Shacking Up
by Maxine101
Summary: Iruka's apartment is lost, and because of the Chunin exams he is left homeless until Kakashi offers Iruka a place on his couch. Then two strangers lern to live together, and maybe even fall into love.
1. Chapter 1

Un – means One in French (What? I don't know Japanese lol)

* * *

"You need to get laid," Kotetsu said. By the way the man's speech was slow and stilted, Iruka figured his friend was pretty well drunk. Considering what he'd had to drink – hell, what they'd _all_ had to drink – it was amazing that the tall Chunin was still able to sit on his barstool without finding himself face first on the floor.

"I know I need to get laid," Iruka replied, his speech in no better condition that Kotetsu's. "But who do I fuck?"

"Well, that'sh the queshtion, isn't it?" Izumo asked as he swayed. "Who do you want to fuck?"

Iruka shrugged. "I guesh I want shomeone who wantsh to fuck me? Maybe if they could like me?"

"Well, that'sh the trick, isn't it?" Kotetsu asked. "If we knew that, none of us would have been here at the end of a bad day. I'd be shleeping with my... hic… girlfriend and we'd never have come to this divey piece of shit bar."

Izumo swayed a little more on his stool and almost knocked into Iruka. "Why did we shay we didn't want to talk about our shucky days again?" Izumo asked.

"Becaush I didn't want you to know that the misssssssssion room was a disaster," Ko said as he laid his head on the bar before him. "You were right, and I couldn't handle it by myself."

"Becaush the person I like doesn't know it, and they're being particularly densh," Izumo slurred.

"Becaush I didn't want to admit that the rugrats in my class managed to one-up me." When his friends turned blurry eyes on him, Iruka explained, "They started fighting, and when I broke it up another one stabbed me in the thigh with their fake kunai. I had to go to the hospital to get stitched up!"

"Ish that all?" Izumo asked.

"Well, then I went to the mission'sh room and found it in Chaos. I had to hit a couple of Jounin and send them to the hospital before everything calmed down. Then I had to go to the hospital again because Genma's senbon got stuck in my right butt cheek – which he says was an accident, but I don't think so – and now my butt hurts. Then Tsunade summoned me just to tease me about my butt and how I'm having a rough day. She said…" and that's where this got hard. He could feel himself sobering up, but not enough that he could stop the tears from trickling down his cheeks. "She said that if there's one more incident this week, then she's sending me on a mandatory leave. She called it a vacation, but it's basically a suspension with pay!"

"You know," Kotetsu slurred, "most people like it when the Hokage sends them on mandatory vacation time. She usually treats it like a mission and pays for it."

"But who would I go with?" Iruka asked. "I don't like vacations by myself. It's not the same as when I went with my parents. It's not fun! It's…" he couldn't get the word out, "it's… lonely." And boring, but he wasn't going to say that. Compared to lonely, boring wasn't much of a complaint.

"Iruka, you know your parents died…. How many years ago did they die?" Izumo asked. He wasn't swaying as much and his speech was starting to clear. He wasn't sober by any means, but he was starting to head in that direction.

"They died when I was eleven," Iruka clarified. "I'm… I'm…. I'm twenty-four."

"No you're not," Izumo stated with his finger pointing down into the bar for emphasis. "You're twenty-three."

"No, I'm not twenty-three," Iruka argued, his voice growing without his control. "I'm twenty-four. Today is my birthday. Nobody remembered, even me."

"Oh, Ruka, I'm so sorry!" Kotetsu gasped out as he stumbled off his stool and wobbled his way over to Iruka. He half leaned and half fell on the poor tanned Chunin when he tripped on the floor and covered his fall with a hug. "Happy Birthday! Bartender, get this man another drink!"

"It's okay," Iruka said as he waved the bartender off. "I just wanna go home. Guys, take me home."

"Okay," Kotetsu said. He "helped" Iruka up by leaning very heavily on him and dragged Izumo with them toward the doorway. Sort of. They hit the wall a couple times before they managed to find the doorway, but eventually they made it outside where the cool night air had a sobering effect. At least, it sobered them enough that they managed to turn down the right roads in order to find Iruka's apartment.

"Hey, Ruka, look," Izumo said as he pointed to a bright area above the roofs. "It looks like there's a fire. Your apartment's in that direction."

"Yeah…" Iruka mumbled.

They continued on their way, but the bright spot on the horizon kept getting bigger and bigger until they turned onto Iruka's street and they saw the apartment building that was completely covered in flames. Iruka looked from side to side, but the nearby buildings didn't seem to be on fire at all, but it was hard to tell with the mayhem of so many shinobi zipping all around performing jutsu to put the fire out. Then a giant water dragon reared its head and flew its way through the windows and doors of the house, and everything came to a standstill. The fire was out.

Kakashi Hatake jumped off the neighboring roof and landed gracefully next to the three now-sober Chunin. "Hello, Iruka-sensei," he said with his one visible eye arching with a smile. "You seem to be having a good time."

Iruka felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise in agitation at the silent barb Kakashi had just said. The older shinobi had been making snide comments to Iruka ever since the Chunin had called him out at Naruto's first Chunin exam. Even if the words didn't comment on the fact that Iruka hadn't helped put out the blaze, Kakashi's tone certainly did. "I was at a bar, and when we got drunk we decided to come home. I didn't know there was a fire until just a bit ago."

"Well, it's out now. I suppose you can continue on your way," Kakashi said pleasantly, the smiling eye of his never fading for a moment.

"I can't," Iruka said. "That was my apartment building that burned down."

* * *

Author's Note: Hello everybody! Sorry this chapter was a bit of a downer. It serves a purpose, though, I promise! The rest of the chapters have a much lighter tone. My wonderful Beta (my boyfriend) wanted me to add some jokes to this chapter, which I did, but then he said the jokes weren't very good and ruined to flow, so I took them out. I already have the next few chapters written and a couple of them have been edited, so I plan to post them regularly.

On another note, I wanted to mention that the timeline of this story is taken out of the official Naruto timeline, because I haven't actually read the Manga or watched more than the first few Shippuden episodes (and I'm so far behind, catching up looks like it's going to be a daunting task). I figure it'll take place after the two year skip and a short while after the big attack on Konoha where everybody kinda died. Kakashi is back in charge of the new team 7. Again, this is my version of events, so i'm sorry if I'm a bit off. I did do lots of research, though!

And please, drop me a message or a review to let me know what you think. I'm not begging for reviews (although I can't deny that they are nice to recieve) but I do like feedback of all shapes, sizes, and obnoxiousness :P


	2. Chapter 2

Du – That's two (French again) Not to be confused with "Duh"

* * *

Kakashi just stared at the Chunin before him in surprise. It was Iruka-sensei's apartment that had burned down? Upon closer inspection, Kakashi noticed the flush to Iruka-sensei's cheeks, as well as the flush on the cheeks of his friends as well. Had they been out celebrating Iruka's birthday? The way they were standing, with the one's arm flung haphazardly over Iruka-sensei's shoulder and the other one was swaying with the wind, Kakashi figured it was safe to assume all three were drunk. The sensei was the most sober of the three, but it was hard to tell by the way they had simply frozen in shock.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi told the sensei.

"It's okay," Iruka said. He shrugged his friend's arm off his shoulder and fully straightened up. "Is there anything left to salvage?"

Kakashi looked over his shoulder at the shuddering building behind him. It was little more than a blackened frame held together by ash and smoke. Rubble had settled on the ground floor that had once been furniture from upstairs apartments, but the items that weren't buried were charred beyond recognition. Had Tenzo not enforced the wood of the neighboring buildings in time they would have been more than a little singed. As it was, only a handful of people were out of a home.

"I doubt it," Kakashi said calmly as he returned his gaze to the stunned shinobi before him. "We're tallying the damage and we're looking for witnesses. You weren't here when it started?"

Iruka shook his head numbly, his eyes never leaving the frame of ash and smoke that had been his home. "We were out drinking."

So they _were_ drunk. "Then you should go to the housing department for a place to stay," Kakashi said briskly. Then, because there was a lot of work left to do, he walked away toward a few other shinobi to give them orders.

He wasn't there long, though, when he noticed that Iruka hadn't left. He hadn't stayed in his spot, either. He was slowly moving toward the charred remnants of the apartment building.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka couldn't help but stare at the place he'd called home since his parents had died. Very little of the walls were left, and all the floors had collapsed into the wet puddle left over from Kakashi's jutsu, turning the ash into a dirty kind of gloppy soup. He wondered briefly if it was edible, and then promptly blamed that gross thought on the booze he'd drunk earlier. Ash continued to fall from the walls – the roof was on the ground beneath his feet.

When had he gotten here? He was inside the building – what was left of it. Mechanically, he started ruffling through the hot remnants of his building when he felt someone behind him.

"Ruka, what are you looking for?" Izumo asked.

"I don't… know," Iruka replied. "I think something should have survived… maybe my kunai?"

"Iruka…" Izumo started, but he was distracted when Iruka moved a pile of tiles and something gleamed. "What's that?"

Iruka dusted some soot off of the shiny thing, revealing more iron. Then he pulled out a heavy round shield with a wave etched into it. The paint had been burned off and it had begun to soften at the edges, but the unusually thick shield was still mostly intact. The Chunin held it to his chest as he continued to rummage through the fire looking for things that hadn't been burned or melted. Most of the stoves and washers weren't in working order and the furniture was little more than rubble. Not even a picture frame was left.

Izumo grabbed Iruka's shoulder and pulled him in, wrapping his arms around the other Chunin. Iruka leaned in and wrapped an arm around his friend, but he was still too numb to really say anything except, "I'm hungry."

Izumo chuckled. "I guess we should get you something to eat."

"But I have to find someplace to stay," Iruka said.

"You can stay with me and Ko," Izumo volunteered as he started to steer Iruka out of the wreckage. "I doubt he'd mind."

"I don't want to be a sardine!" Iruka whined. Izumo gave Iruka the benefit of the doubt on that one: Izumo and Ko lived in a studio apartment together. It had started out as a punishment by the Sandaime for a prank, but they hadn't bothered to move since the Sandaime had died the week after at the Chunin Exam. Not to mention, Iruka thought, the two of them were barely home to do more than sleep, anyway, between gate duty and their mission room hours.

And Iruka figured that the two of them were sleeping together.

"It's not like we can't make room for you!" Kotetsu said. He'd approached the building with Izumo, but hadn't entered the destruction to retrieve Iruka. "Besides, I thought you liked sardines."

"That doesn't mean I want to be one," Iruka said, the light coming back into his eyes a little. "Kakashi-sensei was right: I should go to the housing department and get an assigned room. Considering I haven't requested one in fourteen years, I'm due an upgrade." Chunin got bigger apartments than Genin, and he was still in his Genin-assigned quarters. Maybe this was a good time for a fresh start.

"But is the housing department open this late?" Izumo – ever the practical one – asked.

Iruka snorted. "Zumo, I think Ko's starting to rub off on you! All Ninja services are always open twenty-four hours a day. They just go half staffed at night. How long have you been working for the village?"

There was a long pause before Izumo said, "I'm drunk. And I lost my brain."

"They're open all day every day," Iruka said with a gentle tease in his voice. "Just like the mission desk."

Just as the Chunin were about to leave, the Hokage showed up. Her hair was disheveled and her man-eating breasts were nearly falling out of her robe, but she was suddenly there shouting orders and demanding answers. She turned her head and golden eyes rested on Iruka for a moment.

"You need a place to stay?" she demanded.

Iruka nodded.

"Who else needs a place to stay?" Tsunade demanded. When several other people stepped forward, the Hokage said, "Speak with Shizune so she knows your name and apartment number. Volunteers, please also speak with Shizune so that she can assign you a houseguest. Because of the dignitaries and the high presence of shinobi in the village due to the Chunin exams next week, there aren't any more apartments available. Until we get things sorted out, this will have to do.

Iruka went up to the kind brunette woman and gave her his name and apartment number. Then she asked for his whereabouts when the fire started. When Iruka had finished talking, Shizune sent him to a table that was being set up by some of the neighbors where tea was being made, along with a promise that she would be by soon to tell him where he was going to be staying.

Ko and Zumo stayed with him, drinking tea and talking about the academy, training, anything to keep Iruka's mind of the ruined building nearby. Slowly a gathering of Iruka's neighbors joined them, and just as slowly they were called by Shizune to find their foster homes. Before long everyone was gone but Iruka and his friends.

So he started watching Shizune as he waited patiently for his fate to be sorted out. By now most of the passersby had left with only a few stragglers and the people who had organized the fire brigade left behind. Iruka watched as Shizune walked up to Kakashi and said something. Kakashi glanced lazily over at Iruka (who smiled and saluted him with his cup of now-cold tea) before he turned his eye back to the blond woman. Presumably he said something, because after a moment Shizune bashed him over the head with a clipboard, causing the legendary Jounin to wince and rub his head in pain.

"Iruka-san?" Shizune asked as she walked over to the scarred shinobi with a very disgruntled Sharingan no Kakashi in tow. "I'm sorry to make you wait, but I have a foster home for you."

"I'm to stay… with Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka asked.

"He's 'volunteered' his house," the Hokage said as she walked up behind her assistant. Iruka assumed that she'd seen the same display as he had and had come to the same conclusion. "No need to fear, Iruka-sensei: you can stay with him as long as you need. He will not complain. To you," she mumbled under her breath.

Iruka stared at the embarrassed-looking white-haired shinobi. It was clear that Kakashi didn't want Iruka in his place, but it was also obvious that Tsunade (or at least Shizune) had something on him. If she didn't, Kakashi wouldn't have been so compliant. He was notoriously uncaring and callous, and even Naruto had told him how Kakashi only really did stuff that suited himself. Fortunately, taking care of his team was something very important to Kakashi – a trait that, no matter how saturated with self-interests it may have been, did constitute itself as a redeeming quality.

So, Iruka bowed to the tall Jounin with all the respect he could muster despite his pounding headache and said, "Thank you, Kakashi-san, for giving me a place to stay.

The look of amazement that was in Kakashi's eye when Iruka rose surprised the Chunin. Despite the look, though, Kakashi's tone was nothing but its normal lazy timber. "Maa, Iruka-sensei, it's what I can do to help in this situation. I wouldn't want Naruto to ever think that I left his beloved Sensei to sleep out in the cold."

Speaking of which, Iruka shivered. He'd been handed a blanket some hours ago, but the darn thing was almost as cold as he was. "Thank you nonetheless," Iruka mumbled into his blanket.

"All right. Lady Hokage, things seem to be all sorted out here. I'm going to take Iruka home before he freezes to death," Kakashi said. Tsunade simply nodded as the Jounin turned and started walking away.

Izumo and Kotetsu each gave Iruka a quick hug and a whispered warning to call them if he ever needed anything. With barely a backward wave Iruka ran to catch up to the famous Copy nin.


	3. Chapter 3

Trois – Pronounced _twah_ sort of. Means three in French :D

* * *

Iruka stared at the apartment with the nice wood floors, the expensive leather couch, and the extensive bookshelves filled with novels (and Icha Icha.) Then he noted the dust covering everything except the couch and the bookshelf. It made sense: a ninja like Kakashi made his career solely based on missions or training his Genin team (Sai had been officially added to the group and Kakashi had taken it back over) and was rarely home enough to clean.

Kakashi lived in a single bedroom Jounin apartment, which meant that he had a bedroom, a full bathroom, a large living room, a dinette, and a full kitchen with lots of cupboard space. Chunins got an apartment that was smaller than the Jounin accommodation without the dinette, or the kitchen and living room space. Still all of that was better than the studios or tiny single bedroom apartments that Genin received, although even that was better than the puny spaces that were given to pre-Genin orphans like Naruto and Sasuke.

Of course, if a ninja were to get married and raise a family or decide to room with a friend appropriate accommodations would be assigned. Iruka had just never felt the need to do any of that, so he hadn't bothered to move out of his first Genin housing assignment.

"Feel free to come in and sit down, Sensei," Kakashi said as he moved into his apartment.

Iruka pulled his shoes off and set them neatly by the little step in the entryway before he stepped inside the apartment. Hugging his shield to his chest he walked over to the couch, stepping around the low coffee table to sit down on a comfortably worn spot near the bookshelf. Kakashi made his way to the kitchen and set his keys in a bowl on the counter.

"Thank you for letting me stay here," Iruka said as Kakashi started puttering around in the kitchen, pulling things out of the refrigerator and setting a wok on the stove.

"Not a problem, Sensei. I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of food, but I do have eggs. You look like you're getting a hangover."

Iruka rubbed his temple in an attempt to rub the headache away. "Yeah… I didn't drink enough water tonight. Serves me right. Glad I didn't take that drink I was offered after we all remembered it's my birthday." he said with a humorless chuckle.

"You forgot your birthday?" Kakashi asked as he lit his stove. Then he started mixing the eggs with the milk and sugar.

"I haven't really worried about it the last few years," Iruka said. "But today was my twenty-fifth birthday. What a way to celebrate my first quarter century."

"Maa, Sensei, you sound so depressing."

Iruka sighed. "The alcohol isn't out of my system yet. I feel miserable. I had a crappy day. And my home of fourteen years just burned down. I feel somewhat justified in being a sourpuss for a few hours at least."

Kakashi shrugged. He could see the logic in that. After all, hadn't he spent the last few decades or so brooding in front of the memorial stone?

"But anyway, Kakashi-san, is there anything I should be aware of in your house?" Iruka asked.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked as he poured the egg mixture into the wok and pulled out his cooking sticks.

"Are there any rules?" Iruka prompted. "Are there any special tasks you'd like me to take over to earn my keep while I'm here?"

"I hadn't thought about it, Sensei. If I think of anything, I'll let you know."

They lapsed into silence after that. When the eggs were done, Kakashi handed Iruka a plate. Iruka's stomach grumbled, and he ate the sweet eggs quickly. He felt better after eating, and even noticed that Kakashi's plate had become empty before his own. "Thank you, Kakashi-san. That was delicious."

"It's no problem, Iruka-sensei. But I think it's time for bed." The Jounin walked over to the linen closet in the short hallway and pulled out a spare blanket and pillow. He set them on the opposite arm of the couch from where Iruka sat. After a moment of thought, he went back into the kitchen and poured Iruka a glass of water and set it before the poor Chunin on the little table. "There's aspirin and antacids in the bathroom if you need it. It's the door on the right in the hall. Mine is the room at the end if you need me. I'll be training my team tomorrow, so use your key to lock up if you go out."

"Key?" Iruka asked. He watched as Kakashi opened the front door, lifted the doormat, and shut the door. Then he held up the key and placed the key in the bowl with his other set of keys.

"Tomorrow night I'll key the traps to recognize you. I'd normally do it tonight, but you look about ready to crash."

Iruka huffed out a laugh. "I feel about ready to crash."

"At least tomorrow isn't a school day," Kakashi said, his eye curling up in a smile.

Strange that Kakashi suddenly seemed to care about his welfare. Iruka couldn't make heads or tails about it, but he was too tired and wrung out to care. He started spreading out the blanket as he said, "I have mission desk duty tomorrow afternoon. I'll be home in time to make dinner, though."

Kakashi's eye lifted in what Iruka assumed was a pleased smile. "That would be nice."

Iruka settled onto the couch and pulled the blanket up to his chin. Kakashi waited by the light switch until the Chunin was situated before he turned out the light. As he turned to head into his bedroom he heard Iruka say, "Good night, Kakashi-san. And thank you."

So Kakashi said, "Good night, Iruka-sensei," before he closed the door to his own bedroom

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka woke slowly. He'd had a night full of haunting dreams and mixed memories. As he woke, his mind was still trapped in the bizarre worlds of his dreams and when he finally opened his eyes he was very confused. Where was this?

Then the whole previous day came back to him in a rush. Oh, yeah… he was at Kakashi's. And the Jounin had been _nice_. After being a jerk. He stretched languidly and looked up at the clock on the wall, wondering idly if Kakashi was still home of if he'd left yet to train his Genin team. However, as he yawned, some dust blew up his nose, making him sneeze. As he sneezed more dust got into his nose, and before he knew it he was trapped in a sneezing fit.

Okay, that decided it: the first thing he was going to do was find a broom and sweep this place. But first, he should dust so that when he swept he would clean away more of the dust. Then he could make some breakfast, and while he was at it he could check the fridge to see what he needed to buy for dinner.

With his morning planned out, Iruka got up and went to the bathroom. He took one look inside and stopped in amazement. Had it ever been cleaned? He looked into the sink in grimaced in disgust. Was that… dried blood?

Revision: first he was going to scrub the bathroom. Then he was going to dust and sweep. Then maybe he should wash the floor, since it obviously hadn't been cleaned in a long time, and deal with the food situation. Hell… maybe he should just clean the whole house and do the laundry. It was only seven in the morning. He had time before he needed to get to the mission desk.

Rolling up his sleeves he got to work.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi awoke with a start to the sound of banging in the kitchen. Fortunately, he was able to squash his gut reaction to automatically attack the noisemaker. Instead, he froze in his bed until he remembered again that he had a houseguest. He'd lain awake for hours, barely dozing for minutes at a time, because of how uncomfortable he was having Iruka – or anyone for that matter – in his home.

He hadn't let Naruto spend the night for that very reason. Ever since his father's death Kakashi had been alone, and because he'd become a Chunin so young in life, by the time Obito had wormed his way into Kakashi's apartment to spend the night before a mission Kakashi was no longer able to quell his natural defensive instinct – an instinct that was a benefit in the field. Magically, he only directed it toward enemies.

Suddenly, Kakashi had a thought: what was Iruka cooking? Kakashi hardly ever cooked, and he hadn't done so in quite a while. His fridge hardly had anything in it, and what he did have was questionably safe at best.

Stretching languidly, Kakashi sat up and pulled on his mask. Time to go see what the wayward Chunin was getting into. He didn't bother putting on a shirt as he made his way out of his bedroom.

When he opened his door, he stopped cold. The floor just outside his door was completely dust-free. There was a line of dust where the door had blocked Iruka's cleaning efforts. And he smelled something… wonderful. He moseyed out into the hall with his hands in his pockets and wandered into his living room.

Iruka was in the kitchen hovering over a pan with a pair of cooking sticks in his hand. He looked up as Kakashi made his way into the spotless room and smiled. "Good morning."

"What is this?" Kakashi asked as he stopped in the space that acted as the doorway between the kitchen/dinette and the living room, his hand on the counter that acted as a wall between the two rooms. "Where did you get the food?"

"I went shopping," Iruka said as he tilted the wok over two plates and a fried fish fell neatly on each plate. "Ready for breakfast?"

Another sniff of the air made Kakashi's stomach rumble, so he nodded his head and entered the little nook by the kitchen where he kept his table. As he sat Iruka brought the fish over and set it on the table and plopped it in front of Kakashi between the miso soup and the rice. There was also a small omelet on the table that looked like it had made its way there just moments before Kakashi had left his bedroom.

"This looks amazing," Kakashi said as he picked up his chopsticks.

Iruka smiled as he poured tea into Kakashi's cup. "I may teach and work behind a desk, but I do have some handy skills!"

Kakashi glanced up at his new roommate in surprise. Sure, he'd thought that Iruka was a little lacking in certain areas when it came to being a ninja – particularly his kindheartedness and his lack of training due to his two office jobs – but he never really doubted that Iruka had earned his Chunin status. Each rise in rank was earned many times over before it was given, so Kakashi had assumed that Iruka had a specialty that served him well. He also didn't hold the Chunin to his Jounin status. Unless Iruka was striving to become a Jounin, it would be impractical to hold him to such an unrealistic standard.

"Iruka-sensei, I didn't doubt you had skills. I'm just impressed that you can cook."

Iruka looked a little surprised for a split second before his face returned to its normal polite expression. Then he moved across the small table and sat in his own seat. "Itadakimasu," he said before he picked up his chopsticks before burying himself in his food. Kakashi noticed that the other man wasn't looking up, giving Kakashi plenty of time to eat without his mask.

The food was as good as it smelled. After he finished his miso soup (which had eggplant in it, yay!) he pulled his mask back up and asked the burning question, "Where did you get the food? I didn't have any."

Iruka chuckled into his teacup. "I went grocery shopping."

"And you cleaned the house?" Kakashi asked. He'd figured that as a bachelor who was always out because of his two duties to the village the other man probably wouldn't have kept his apartment very clean, like Kakashi. Waking up to a spotless apartment blew that assumption out of the water.

"There was dried blood and caked on crud in the sinks, and the bathtub and toilet were brown from dirt. It was gross," Iruka replied around a bite of fish. "I planned on dusting and sweeping to kind of pay for my keep, I guess, but I figured that if I was going to do some of it then I'd better do all of it."

Kakashi looked around, noting the dust-free counter and tabletops, the sparkling floor, and the dish-free sink. "How long have you been up?" he asked.

Iruka smiled. "Only three hours."

Impressive. His bathroom alone had been a mess. Speaking of which… "Excuse me, I need to pee."

Iruka's mouth closed and his mouth pressed into a thin line. Kakashi smirked under his mask at having irritated his guest as he headed toward his restroom. When he opened his bathroom door he almost had to close his eyes because the white tile was not only white, but it practically sparkled. He offhandedly wondered if Gai had been here to lay a trail of sparkles.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka watched Kakashi head into the bathroom and jerk backward in surprise at the cleanliness of the previously disgusting room. With a chuckle he quickly finished his meal and started to clear his dishes. With a quick look he noticed that Kakashi had finished his own meal, so Iruka started clearing those dishes, too.

Iruka was good at cleaning, but he needed help cleaning that disgusting bathroom. So he'd summoned a few clones to do the scrubbing while he'd found (read as improvised) some cleaning supplies and started dusting. Between him and his two clones he was able to clean the apartment in only an hour and a half. Then he was able to duck out and quickly buy the groceries.

He started on the dishes happily. It was always fun taking care of people – cooking for them, teaching them the skills to make them better ninja, or giving them missions and filing their reports. It had been such a long time since Naruto had stayed over or needed any special treatment; Iruka hadn't realized how much he missed doing special things for someone. Admittedly Kakashi wasn't special like Naruto was, but the fact that he'd enjoyed Iruka's cooking was touching nonetheless.

By the time Kakashi returned from the toilet, the kitchen was once again spotless. Iruka noticed that Kakashi's hair looked damp and his clothes had been changed.

"I'm going to go train my team since I'm already an hour late. I should be home by dark," Kakashi said as he tied his weapons bag to his leg. "Oh…" Then he flashed a few hand signs and there was a loud bang. Then he performed a few more hand signs and there were a couple more loud booms. "Now I've set the traps to recognize you. They'll automatically set when you leave and disarm when you come back."

"Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka said.

As Kakashi walked out the door Kakashi said, "You're welcome."

* * *

Author's Note: Has that ever happened to you, where you started out doing one small thing and that led to another thing, and another, and eventually you discovered that you'd done way more than you intended? I used to do it all the time when I cleaned my apartment (my darling apartment... O how I miss you!) I'd do the dishes, but the counters were filthy so I'd wash them. Then I'd notice how cluttered my desk was so I'd start puting that stuff way, which would bring me into my bedroom, which was almost as bad so I'd have to clean _that_ up. Then I'd have to pee, but the bathroom was getting a little groady, and the next thing I knew I finished with a vacuum and mop job! Happened about once a month.

But there was also something I noticed about my story: I didn't mention why Kakashi had waited to reset his traps for Iruka. Those loud bangs while he was setting them would have woken the neighbors, and I figured it was quiet late when they got back.

Please drop me a line to tell me any thoughts you might have. I'd love to hear them! And thank you to the people who already have. Its such an honor knowing that you guys read my stories :D


	4. Chapter 4

04 – Quatre (pronounced "cat") You know, I'm quite impressed with how much I've been able to remember of the French number system. It's been… oh… about 4 (Quatre) years since I took a class :D

* * *

When Iruka got to the Mission Desk, he was instantly attacked by Izumo and Kotetsu. Fortunately, they attacked him with questions, not fists, so he managed to fend them off well enough for the duration of his shift. After they were relieved from duty at the end of the afternoon, however, Iruka found himself being dragged out of the Hokage tower and pulled into the nearest alley.

"So?" Kotetsu started. "What's it like living with the Copy Nin?"

Iruka shrugged. "I don't know. It's not like I've really had the chance to hang out with him. He seems nice, I guess."

Izumo glared. "That's a non-answer," he accused.

Iruka shrugged. "He set me up on his couch just before we went to bed, and he woke up late. He stayed for breakfast, but he left immediately after to train his team. We only did a little talking."

"Oh." Kotetsu looked really downtrodden, so Iruka decided to throw him a bone.

"You know, he's pretty nice," Iruka said. "I guess he doesn't hate me as much as I thought he did."

"Really?" Kotetsu asked. "He was glaring daggers at you at the fire."

Iruka shrugged in confusion. Should he be telling his friends about this? It wasn't really something personal between himself and Kakashi, he guessed. "I made a comment at breakfast that I may only do deskwork, but I am good at cooking, and he made this comment that made me think that he actually doesn't…"Iruka trailed off, losing his nerve in talking about this with his friends.

"… Hate you?" Izumo finished for the other Chunin at the same time Kotetsu asked, "What did he say?"

Iruka sighed. "He said he didn't doubt that I had some handy skills, but he was impressed that I can cook."

Silence ensued. Then Izumo said, "Maybe he's not such a bastard after all."

"No, he's a bastard," Kotetsu stated adamantly. "He wouldn't have verbally bitch-slapped Iruka in public when he argued about that Uzumaki kid's team being nominated for the Chunin exam if he wasn't. He also wouldn't turn in horrible mission reports late or belittle Iruka when he arrives to his own apartment burning down."

"Fine, he's a bastard," Izumo snapped. "But maybe he's a nice bastard. He did take you in and give you his couch even though he didn't really want to. I know a lot of Shinobi wouldn't have done it."

"Yeah, Genma's a true bastard," Kotetsu agreed with a nod.

Iruka couldn't help it: he cracked a smile. This was why they were his friends. They could always cheer him up and talk him through something he couldn't figure out. Not that Genma was the only Shinobi who wouldn't invite others to stay over out of the kindness of their heart, but he was apt to be the most adamant about not letting people in unless they were beautiful busty blondes.

"I guess Kakashi is nice," Iruka said, getting back to the real topic at hand. "He was very considerate last night when we got to his place, and he even keyed his traps to me so I can come and go."

Kotetsu and Izumo froze for a second and exchanged a quick look. "He was… considerate?" Kotetsu asked tentatively.

Iruka shot his friend a questioning look. "Yeah. He got me a blanket and pillow for the couch, and then he gave me a glass of water and told me where to find meds for my hangover. What do you think I meant?"

The look of relief that washed over his friends' faces made Iruka nervous. "Oh, we didn't mean anything," Kotetsu lied.

Izumo smacked his shoulder and hissed, "_You_ didn't mean anything. I said _nothing!_"

"Okay…" Iruka said as he started edging away from his friends. He had a good idea what he thought they were talking about, and it made him uncomfortable – he was pretty sure _they_ were sleeping together, but he hadn't been aware that they thought _he_ slept with men. At least, not in any way that wasn't platonic.

And besides, wasn't it a commonly known fact that Kakashi slept with women? At least, that was the rumor.

Not that those kinds of rumors could necessarily be believed…

But, getting off of that uncomfortable subject, Iruka said, "Hey, I need to be getting back to the apartment to make dinner. See you guys tomorrow."

"Okay," Izumo said with a wave.

"Hey, let us come over sometime!" Kotetsu called as Iruka started to make his way down the alley, causing Iruka to pause.

"I don't know if Kakashi-sensei would like that," he said. "I'll ask him."

"That's all we ask," Izumo said as his fist fell none too gently atop Kotetsu's head, causing his roommate to wince in pain. "Later."

"Later," Iruka echoed as he turned and finally made his escape.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka used his key to enter Kakashi's apartment and leaned on the door once he was inside. He could feel peoples' eyes on him all day, especially as he'd walked home after his discussion with Izumo and Kotetsu. He knew the rumor mill in Konoha worked fast, but he'd never been the butt of a scuttlebutt before, and the speed of the rumor made his head spin. Zumo and Ko had approached him out of concern for their friend, but he was anxious to find out how long it would take for people to start coming up to him to ask what Kakashi's face looked like.

With a sigh Iruka pushed away from the door and removed his sandals. Then he locked the door and put his key in the bowl as Kakashi had the night before. Then, after a second of thought, he added his other keys to the bowl. No point keeping them in his pocket if he didn't have to. One of them no longer had a door it could open…

He smacked his hands over his cheeks to snap himself out of his depressing thoughts. No point in missing his apartment. It was gone. He may as well move on.

Kakashi had said that he would be home around sunset from training his team, but from what Naruto had told him while he was still Kakashi's pupil the Jounin was consistently a couple hours late. Since Kakashi had stayed for breakfast and hadn't been in a hurry to leave, Iruka assumed that the same still held true with his new team. So Iruka didn't feel in any kind of rush to start cooking dinner. He'd be ready at sunset because he would be hungry, but he'd save Kakashi's portion for him in the fridge. There wasn't any point in breaking his back for someone whose may or may not be there.

So instead, he went to the couch and sat down. Then he reached over the arm of his seat and brought up the shield he'd saved from the rubble of his building. Originally, he'd set it on the table, but in his cleaning fit he'd moved it several times, and eventually it had found its place leaning against the side of the couch out of the way. Iruka ran his fingers over the familiar etchings in the metal and stared down at the precious antique in his hands – literally the only thing he owned.

Well, not quite the only thing anymore. He set the shield back down next to the couch and went back to the entryway to pick up his new knapsack. After breakfast, he'd gone to the Hokage tower and filled out all the appropriate change of address and apartment request forms. Because he'd suddenly lost his home, the ninja on duty had given Iruka a basic bathroom supply kit. Then he'd gone up a flight of stairs and picked up his standard-issue Chunin uniform, weapons pouch with the basic compliment of kunai and shuriken, rations, matches, first aid kit, Hitai-ate (he hadn't been wearing his to the bar since he'd been dressed as a civilian) water canteen, bedroll, and carry pack. He'd also gone to a Ninja supply outlet to purchase blank tags and chakra wire.

Now he pulled all of his new stuff out of his pack. Izumo had thought to bring Iruka one of his spare uniforms, which Iruka had immediately put on at the Mission Room. He liked having new clothes, but the ninja supplies tended to be too stiff. He'd learned to wash them before wearing them or else risk getting blisters in very uncomfortable and embarrassing places. Fortunately, Izumo had been kind enough to tell Iruka that he could just keep the spare uniform, telling Iruka that he couldn't just wear one all week and expect people to be willing to share any personal space with him.

With that memory in his mind, Iruka decided that before he started making dinner, he should probably do a load of laundry. He stood and shook out his new uniform before heading into the hall. There was a washer unit in the bathroom by the door, so he was going to just stick his new clothing in it and let it run, but then he noticed that Kakashi's door was open. And he couldn't help but peer in.

The line of dust that ended in the hallway annoyed him. Apparently Kakashi barely lived in his apartment. Otherwise it wouldn't have collected so much dust. Briefly Iruka wondered if Kakashi would mind if he cleaned his room? Impulsively, he poked his head through the door looking for a laundry basket. If he could see the laundry basket from the doorway, he'd go in and fetch it to add to his own load. If he didn't see it, he wouldn't bother.

He did see it. It was right next to the closed closet door. He reached in and grabbed it, adding the clothing – very boring Jounin uniforms – to his own load. After he finished the laundry, he fetched the duster and started cleaning the room. He figured that if Kakashi hadn't wanted him in there, he wouldn't have left the door open. It's not like he was peeking in where he didn't belong, and the only reason he opened the closet at all was to sweep the floor in there and do a decent job. He was careful not to look at the other man's stuff. If Naruto was to be believed, Kakashi was a man who relished his privacy.

When Kakashi finally came through the door – on time, amazingly enough – Iruka was cooking dinner.

"Hey," Iruka said after Kakashi's greeting of "Yo." "I hope you don't mind, but I did a load of your laundry and I cleaned your room."

Kakashi walked over to the counter and placed his keys carefully into the bowl. "Did you look into anything?"

The concern, even though it was disguised with a calm tone, didn't surprise Iruka in the slightest. Shinobi were consistently paranoid about their personal belongings, so the Chunin was prepared for the question. "I didn't snoop around," Iruka said as he gave the food a stir. "I just dusted and swept, and the laundry was out in the open so I took it. Swept inside the closet, but I didn't pry into anything. Your laundry is folded on your bed and the sheets are almost finished washing."

"You've been busy," Kakashi noted as he seemed to inhale deeply.

Iruka smiled. "Yep! But it's a simple dinner tonight. Stir fry." That's when Iruka looked up from the food and noticed that Kakashi was carrying a huge bag of dog food. "Where did that come from?" he asked. Kakashi hadn't been carrying that a second ago.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, didn't you know that dog food comes from a store!"

"But you weren't…" he noticed the baldly innocent look Kakashi was giving him and sighed, giving up. "Who is the dog food for?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Kakashi said as he set the big bag down on the ground at the end of the counter. Then he bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the ground. With a poof eight dogs appeared in the living room.

"Hey, Boss," Pakkun said from his spot on the couch.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka sat after dinner under a pile of fur with his feet propped up on Bull, who had displaced the table when he'd plopped down on the ground. Judging by the snores, they were all asleep.

Good, because dinner had been a noisy, chaotic affair with dogs everywhere eating their kibble, begging for scraps, talking, laughing, barking, and trying to sneak food. Iruka had almost felt like he was back at the Academy with his students hyped up on sugar, but not quite. The jokes were better and aside from them trying to get around him and to the human food, they tried to include him in some jokes on Kakashi. Nothing went over the Jounin's eyes, but it was a fun game to try.

Kakashi leaned forward in his chair across from Iruka and said, "I think they like you."

Iruka smiled down at his pile of puppies. "It works out, since I like them, too."

"Pakkun likes how hard you fought for the village. I'm sure that when he was released he told the others because the next time I summoned them for dinner they demanded to meet you," Kakashi said quietly.

"I wonder what Pakkun told them," Iruka mused. "I don't remember doing anything particularly spectacular that day, other than getting hurt."

Kakashi chuckled. "I think it was your determination. He told me that now he knows where Naruto got his pigheadedness from, as well as his heart."

Iruka couldn't keep the blush from staining his cheeks. "Do you summon them for dinner very often?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Kakashi sat back in his seat and idly scratched his cheek with one finger. "I guess I summon them once or twice a week, and they usually stay the night. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind," Iruka said as he once again looked at the mass of fur surrounding him. "I'm just wondering where I'm going to sleep."

Kakashi let out a soft chuckle. "At least you won't need a pillow."

"I don't think I'll need a blanket, either," Iruka agreed. "They sure put off a lot of body heat."

They lapsed back into silence. Then, because he knew he should probably just ask it and get it over with Iruka said, "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, would it be okay with you if I invited a couple of my friends over to visit next weekend? They're a little worried about me and…" he shrugged, words failing him in the most uncomfortable way. Kakashi's look hadn't changed, really, but there was something about the expression in that one revealed eye that looked a little tense. "Never mind," Iruka said with a smile. "It's rude of me to invite people to someone else's house. I'm sorry for bothering you."

"No, Iruka-sensei, it's fine," Kakashi said with a pleasant smile shining through his eye. "You've been a wonderful guest so far, and it's nice of you to put up with my nin-ken despite their childish behavior."

"Childish behavior?" Iruka asked. He'd figured dogs normally acted that way, but Kakashi continued as if he hadn't heard Iruka speak.

"I wouldn't be willing to have your friends spend the night, but they can come over on Saturday, I suppose."

Iruka smiled, recognizing the kind gesture for what it was – a sacrifice. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei. I'll let you know what we decide to do. Of course, you are welcome to join us."

Kakashi paused before he answered, his right eye opening slightly in surprise. "Thank you, Sensei. I'll think about it."


	5. Chapter 5

05 – Cinque, pronounced like "sank." So, if you wanted to say "four, five" in French, it would sound like "Cat sank." I find that very funny, in a nerdy kind of way :D

* * *

Kakashi lay in bed watching his bedroom brighten as the sun rose. The day before had been interesting, to say the least. Of course he'd gotten to the bridge to meet Naruto, Sakura, and Sai late, but he'd been in such a good mood from breakfast that he forgot to go to the Memorial Stone. What a happy surprise it had been to find the apartment clean and the kitchen producing such amazing scents, making the place feel lived in and warm. He couldn't find it in him to torture his students as much as usual.

He'd surprised them when he'd arrived by telling them that they were each to practice a single jutsu that they normally wouldn't have tried. He assigned each one a different spell, and had watched each of them struggle. Then he'd assisted each one, explaining where they were messing up and how to improve. Only Sai had been able to master the new technique before he allowed a lunch break, but the other two had made significant progress. Then, after lunch he'd set them up in pairs for a sparring rotation, giving them a chance to integrate their new techniques and for him to speak with each student individually about their fighting tactics.

Sakura had been the first to notice the change in Kakashi. When he spoke with her privately, she asked him why he was so chipper. He'd sidestepped her question – he had an image to maintain after all – before redirecting her attention to the lesson. But, by the time he'd called it quits for the day, all three were suspicious. He had no doubt that they had all gone out to eat afterward and discussed little old him.

But the nicest part of the day had been in the evening. After letting the brats off for the day, he'd gone to visit Obito at the Memorial Stone and to ponder his sudden good mood. Breakfast wasn't that spectacular to change his mood for an entire day, even if the Miso Soup had eggplant in it! That, and he really hadn't slept well knowing there was a stranger in the other room. Obito didn't have any answers, as per usual, but Kakashi still found himself leaving to buy the dog food after a reasonable amount of time.

Then he'd come home to find Iruka in the kitchen preparing dinner. The shorter man's hair was up in its usual ponytail and he was wearing a spare uniform someone had given to him, so he hadn't physically changed much in the hours since Kakashi had left. But there was something different about him. It was the relaxed way in which Iruka stirred the food with one hand in his pocket and a truly peaceful expression on his face that practically blew Kakashi's mind away. He almost hated himself for ruining Iruka's calm by announcing his presence.

The dogs had also come as a surprise. Not only had Iruka been okay with him summoning them for dinner, he'd enjoyed their antics – and what antics! Kakashi was used to the challenges for dominance and playful tendencies of his summons, but they never tried to steal his food off his plate like they did with Iruka! They were acting like puppies, pure and simple, and Iruka encouraged them, even enjoying the game. Then, after Kakashi had done the dishes – voluntarily, too – Kakashi turned to find Iruka in a pile of wiggling nin-ken trying to pet them all at once.

Kakashi had almost felt left out as he witnessed the scene, and instead he sat in the chair opposite them as everyone settled for a big cuddle. Imagine, ninja dogs cuddling! If Kakashi hadn't found the image of Iruka buried in fur so picturesque he would have died at the embarrassment of his ninja dogs acting like contented pets!

Then the truly terrifying part of the evening: Iruka had asked him if he could invite some friends to the apartment. Of course his logic was sound – who wouldn't be worried about such a kind person being left in Kakashi's house? And Kakashi knew what his reputation was. People didn't cover their whispers very well when they talked about him as he passed. He would have been worried about Iruka, too, if he hadn't already known how things were going. Iruka was just… so… innocent. And kind. And the nin-ken knew it, too, which is why they attached themselves to Iruka so easily. Kakashi couldn't refuse Iruka even though he'd wanted to.

It pleased Kakashi when he got up to go to bed that his nin-ken had followed him. There was a brief scuffle at the door as the dogs argued over which one would stay with Iruka. Apparently they all wanted to stay with Iruka, but they all wanted to stay with Kakashi, too. Eventually Bull decided that he was just going to walk over to Iruka's couch and lay back down next to it without saying anything – not that he'd ever said anything before. The others understood that Bill had decided to be Iruka's guard and had noisily filed into Kakashi's room to settle on his bed.

Then Pakkun had sneezed. "Boss, did you actually _wash your bed?_" he asked.

"No," Kakashi said as he started changing into his pajamas, "Iruka did that before dinner. Didn't you notice when he left and made my bed when I did the dishes?"

"We were too busy eating," Bisuke admitted guiltily. They'd all been given some leftover chicken, which Iruka had used to buy himself some time to finish the laundry before he got pounced on the couch. Kakashi had been surprised to find his bed made with his clothes piled neatly on it after he'd finished washing the dishes. Because he couldn't very well sleep on the bed with the dogs and his now fur-covered clean clothes, he quickly stuffed them in some drawers.

"He's nice, Boss," Guruko said as he settled on the foot of the bed. "Can we keep him?"

"He's only staying until after the Chunin Exams," Kakashi said. "Then there'll be a free space and he'll be given a new apartment."

"What happened to his old one?" Akino asked.

"It burned down," Kakashi replied, pushing a few nin-ken out of his way so he could climb into bed. Pakkun took up his usual spot on the pillow next to Kakashi's head and the others settled in again. "Iruka-sensei didn't have anywhere else to go."

"I'm surprised he didn't," Pakkun said. "He's the kind of guy to have a lot of friends."

"I guess he does," Kakashi said, thinking back to the fire when he'd overheard the other two Chunin offering Iruka their place, and Iruka made a comment about being sardines. "But he still needed a place, and no one else volunteered. Then Shizune made me volunteer."

Pakkun snuffled around in a way that always made Kakashi think that the pug was chuckling at him. "I bet she just wanted you to do what you would have done anyway."

"I'm not sure I would have," Kakashi murmured. "I'm really not that nice."

"Sure you are, Boss. You just don't like to admit it," Pakkun replied as his eyes drooped.

With his pack around him, and the lack of sleep the night before catching up to him, Kakashi had found himself asleep in only a few minutes. But now that he was awake again with the dogs still sleeping around him, Kakashi found that he couldn't get the little Chunin out of his mind.

He really was becoming smitten.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka woke to the sounds of someone banging around in the kitchen. He turned his head and cracked his eyes open, checking to make sure it was Kakashi messing around before jumping to defend his new… couch? He'd have to come up with a term to call it – it wasn't his house, his couch, his place, or his anything. He didn't have anything except an ancient shield.

Having seen Kakashi clumsily tinkering around in the kitchen, Iruka decided to try and catch a few more hours of sleep. It was Sunday. He didn't have to be anywhere.

Then Kakashi dropped something metal, and Iruka nearly hit the roof in his surprise. "Kakashi, what are you doing?" he demanded.

Kakashi grabbed the kettle he'd dropped and looked over his shoulder at Iruka as he set it on the stove. "I was just making myself some tea, Sensei. I'm surprised you didn't wake sooner – I've been banging away in here for the last five minutes."

"I know you have," Iruka grumbled. "I was trying to ignore you. Today's my day off."

"No mission desk and no students?" Kakashi asked as he filled the kettle with water.

"None; just a bunch of grading. This week we have exams and I need to get everything back to the kids tomorrow so they can study for the first one on Wednesday. Then we're off for the summer, just in time for the Chunin exams."

"I always found it odd that the academy is open on Saturdays, but you don't work there that day," Kakashi commented as he rummaged through the cupboards for tea. He seemed a little put off at first, and Iruka wondered if he was surprised to find food in the previously empty spaces. It wasn't like he'd changed which cupboard the tea had been stored in.

"I am usually given the difficult class," Iruka said. "I'm the one assigned the kids who are special in one way or another: prodigies, troublemakers, kids with bloodline limits… the children of deceased fourth Hokages. Then, when I was assigned mission room duty, my time at the academy was shortened to five days a week to accommodate the extra duty. Because of my teaching style, I still manage to have the highest number of graduates each year, and I am honored to even have a whole graduating class of rookies who not only graduated but also made it to the Chunin exams six months later. Shikamaru even made Chunin that year."

"You are quite the mother hen," Kakashi said, remembering how Iruka had chastised him for entering Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura into that exam. He didn't miss Iruka stiffening at the mention of it.

"Considering how many orphans I had that year, I'm not surprised I turned into a mother hen," Iruka said. "I also knew what Naruto and Sakura were like in my class, and I didn't believe it until I saw it that they could grow so much in so little time, especially considering that you are a genius and were most likely only able to teach Sasuke."

Kakashi stared open-mouthed at his new roommate (not that the other man would know that his mouth was dangling since the mask covered it). "What?"

Iruka sighed and stood, walking over to the table where he tiredly plopped down in a wooden chair. "From my experience, smart people who've had it easy tend to easily understand other people of similar intelligence. Sasuke was a prodigy who worked his ass off and closed off his emotions after the death of his clan. Considering how much of a genius you've proven to be, how hard you work for the village and how emotionally cut off you are from everyone, the two of you really are peas in a pod. Naruto is a completely different ball of wax who requires an emotional attachment to get things into his thick skull, and Sakura was just a preteen girl with preteen girl hormones, which made her impossible to teach. You did a really good job, but I didn't know that until I saw it with my own eyes."

"You give me far too much credit, Sensei," Kakashi said lightly, surprised at Iruka's observations.

"I know I do," Iruka snapped, his voice suddenly taking on an irritated edge. "Naruto tells me about your training sessions and your missions just like he did back then. Until Sasuke left you basically used the competition between them to train Naruto in new skills, and you mostly left Sakura to her own devices instead of pushing her to develop her taijutsu and ninjutsu abilities. You, Sensei, are ridiculously lucky that your students didn't die on your mission to Mist."

"How very cunning for a man who hasn't been on an A ranked mission in years," Kakashi snapped as the tea kettle began to whistle.

Iruka shrugged. "I may not be a Jounin and I don't have any special jutsu, but I am an experienced teacher. That's why they still have me there after nine years, when most Chunin only teach there for three or four. Dealing with students is my gift, and I'm certain that if I ever decided to train for Jounin status I would be given a Genin team of three immediately."

"You became a Chunin at sixteen?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka smiled. "Pretty average, I know."

Kakashi shook his head. The Chunin was annoying in his preachy-ness. All he wanted was some tea and a chance to wake up slow. Instead he found himself being talked down to by an Academy teacher. Who cared if he was a great teacher, he still didn't have very much actual experience in the field. "I'm not awake enough for this," he mumbled as he jammed a teabag into his cup.

Iruka, for his part, looked contrite. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to berate you," he said. "Would you like me to make you breakfast?"

"Sure," Kakashi said as he poured the hot water into his cup. Then, because he couldn't very well stay mad at the man he had to live with for who-knows-how-long, he made a peace offering. "Would you like some tea?"

Iruka sighed and rubbed his face with the blanket. "Yeah, thanks," he said. "I think I'm up for good now."

"Sorry about that," Kakashi said in the most heartfelt way he knew how.

"No you aren't," Iruka said. "A man of your skill and grace wouldn't drop one pan let alone three pans and a kettle. And you know where the kettle belongs since I didn't move any of your stuff around yesterday. You're worse than Naruto was. You know he would play a prank on me before a test just to rile me up so I'd do something to make it impossible to give it out?"

"Sounds like him," Kakashi said as he started making Iruka's cup of tea.

"Did you know he did it so he'd have an extra day to study?" Iruka asked. "He can't read very well, so it took him a long time just to read the textbook. He couldn't keep up in class taking notes, so almost everything he learned he either learned by ear or figured out on his own."

Kakashi turned from pouring Iruka's water to look at the tired teacher who was still sitting tiredly at the table, his elbows resting comfortably on his knees. "I never knew that," he admitted.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Iruka said. "He never does the paperwork. When you don't do it, you foist it off on Sakura because her handwriting is the best and you don't want me yelling at you. I'll bet you've never actually seen Naruto write anything, and because your lessons are all practical and relate to group work that's a natural course."

"He's a smart kid," Kakashi said as he handed Iruka his tea. Iruka set it on the table before him to let it steep. "He thinks in four dimensions."

"He does," Iruka said. "Once I figured out why he was playing the pranks before tests, I started giving more notice about tests and gave more comprehensive explanations of what was going to be on them, but because of my duties at the mission desk I couldn't spend much time with Naruto. That's why he didn't know how I felt about him until Mizuki betrayed us and told Naruto about the Kyuubi."

Kakashi just stared at the academy teacher in amazement. He'd never realized just how much the teacher paid attention to the goings-on around him. "Well, it doesn't help that he's such a knucklehead," Kakashi said as he took a tentative sip of his tea through his mask. "Sometimes I wonder if he has a learning disability with how many times I sometimes have to explain things."

Iruka gave a chuckle and sat back in his chair. "He never had anyone to help him learn," Iruka said. "He didn't learn how to think the same way everyone else did. Some people learn by hearing. Some people learn by watching. Then there's Naruto, who has to jump into the fire to know its hot."

"If that's true, then why did Jiraiya do so well with him?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka shrugged. "From what Lady Tsunade's told me, she essentially _was_ Sakura when she was a Genin, and Orochimaru was very similar to Sasuke. Jiraiya was just like Naruto is, and he was able to present concepts in a way that let Naruto figure them out."

Amazing. "Are you very close to the Hokage?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka sighed. "I was injured a lot when I was going through my professional prankster stage after my parents' deaths. She and I grew close over time, and since she's been back we've started talking again." Then Iruka stood up and stretched, his hands almost touching the ceiling above his head. "Well, I better get a move on if I'm going to make breakfast. I didn't mean to get into that discussion, either."

"It's okay, Sensei," Kakashi said. "I'll bet you've been wanting to say that for a while."

Iruka smiled as he passed the kitchen's half wall. "Sort of," he admitted. "I never figured I would actually say that to you, though."

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi watched as Iruka read another three page essay. He watched as the Chunin made marks on it in a big red pen. As the page was placed on the "done" pile he quickly grabbed it and started reading it.

"Kakashi-sensei, could you please put that back?" Iruka asked without looking up.

"I wanted to see what you see," Kakashi said as he moved away from the couch that Iruka had taken over and headed toward the dinner table. "You've been at it for about three hours now with only one cup of tea, so I was wondering what was so interesting."

"These need to get done before dinner," Iruka said. "Since I started them after lunch and I have to finish in an hour so I can start preparing dinner, I can't take a break."

Kakashi could accept that. After Iruka had made breakfast Kakashi had followed him to the training field. Iruka went through a pretty basic series of warm-ups before proceeding into a fairly standard set of drills. It was a good workout that worked on strength and speed, but no special skills were practiced or developed, although a decent amount of time was spent on the workout. By the time Iruka finally called it quits it had been time to make lunch.

Iruka was… interesting, Kakashi concluded. His moves during training, although routine, were precise and perfect. Of course, he taught these skills to young children on a daily basis. His demonstrations didn't have to be perfect since the students didn't have discerning eyes, but the unhurried-yet-quick actions very nearly were.

But they were so routine! There was no variation, like Iruka was practicing by remote; like he'd been doing this same set of kata and drills for years. Was the teacher stuck in a rut? Kakashi had to admit that Iruka was a good teacher, if what the younger man had said that morning was true, which he believed it was. The kata had become quite complicated near the end of the morning, but it didn't prepare anyone for true battle.

It made Kakashi wonder if Iruka had sensed his chakra as he sat in a nearby tree "reading" his Icha Icha. However, when Iruka had finished with the cool down movements the Chunin had headed home as if he'd just had a good workout. The Chunin, who was so easy to read, looked tired and satisfied as he walked beneath Kakashi back toward the village.

Lunch had been as delicious as all of the meals Iruka had made thus far, which brought up the item Kakashi had wanted to mention.

"You know, Iruka-sensei, you don't have to cook all the meals," Kakashi said.

Iruka glanced up at Kakashi as he said, "I know I don't, but I'm used to doing it for myself anyway."

That made Kakashi pause with surprise. "You always cook like that?" he asked.

"Well, no…" Iruka said as he went back to his grading. Sometime during Kakashi's musings the Chunin had managed to work his way through his pile – he was almost finished grading the essays. "I usually only made stir fry or something simple I can make in one pot with a side of rice when it was just me, but whenever I have company I try to make a more traditional meal."

"Why would you do that?" Kakashi asked. Iruka only shrugged. "Seriously, Iruka-sensei, why would you go through so much effort to cook for me?"

Iruka sighed, put a grade on the last essay, set it aside dramatically, and looked Kakashi in the eye. "Because you gave me a place to sleep even though you didn't want to," he said seriously. "I wanted to thank you, and I think that domestic duties are the only thing I can contribute to the household while I'm here. Heaven forbid I stay longer than I need to."

Then, as Kakashi sat there stunned, Iruka picked up his pile of corrected essays and left the apartment.

* * *

Author's Note: I always wondered how well Kakashi's students would have learned if they'd had a more interactive learning experience like I'd had with dance. I had my scenario in there. What do you think?

Also, a guest made a note about how in chapter one I put Iruka at 23/24, but in Chapter three I put him at 25 years old. I like the excuse you gave me: that Iruka was that drunk. Crap, I thought I fixed that! Memo to me, remember how old I make a character _before_ I post a chapter! I'm sorry for the inconsistency, honored guest, but now that you mentioned that idea, I think I'm going to stick with it :D It was nice hearing from you!


	6. Chapter 6

Six – French for six. Seriously. It's pronounced like cease.

* * *

Iruka walked through the village with a stack of graded papers in his hand. On the outside he probably looked a little irritated, but on the inside he was livid.

What was up with Kakashi? The man was questioning everything he did! Sure, he'd given the guy a lecture when he'd just woken up, but that was mostly because he'd been grouchy from his rude and inconsiderate awakening. Since then, he'd been careful not to do anything to annoy the Jounin. It bothered him that even his kindness was being questioned. So what if he made breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the Jounin? Couldn't he do something because he wanted to?

And why had he told Kakashi about Naruto's reading ability? It wasn't his to tell! He'd encouraged Naruto to tell Kakashi at least, but Naruto wasn't one to force his problems onto anyone else. If Iruka hadn't gone to the Genin's place so many times to fetch him for class, he wouldn't have known about the boy's difficulties, either. So why had he brought it up?

As Iruka reached the memorial stone, he sighed in relief that no one else was there. He sat in the grass before it and looked for the place where his parents' names were etched.

"Hey, Mom and Dad," he said in a whisper so soft the sound never made it past his lips. "I've had a rough weekend. It was my birthday, but I forgot about it until I was drunk. My place burned down, and now I'm shacked up with a crazy Jounin who's driving me nuts. He's reminding me why I never had a long-lasting roommate before: they always piss me off." He'd had a roommate when he first made Chunin. He'd wanted a clean apartment, but the other boy hadn't cared so much. To this day they weren't friends.

"You see, Kakashi keeps asking me questions. It was strange enough that he let me sleep on his couch, but now he's been asking me about a lot of strange things I wouldn't normally think about. This is the guy who basically told me to buzz off after I voiced some concerns about Naruto in the Chunin Exams, and he called me weak when I was recovering from the Pein attack on the village! He hasn't shown me any interest in the Mission Room, and he didn't even _want_ me on his couch! He's inconsiderate, rude, lazy… Dad, if you were alive I'll bet you'd like him as long as you didn't have to work with him.

"But… if he," Iruka took a deep breath to steady the quiver he felt deep in his chest. "If he didn't want me, then why was he so kind to me when we got to his apartment? Why would he try to get to know me? Why hasn't he made any demands for me to leave the instant another apartment opens up? Why didn't he blow up at me when I told him I went into his room? He's being awfully nice, despite being a natural prick.

"And how the hell did he know about my work schedule?"

Of course no answers were forthcoming for any of his questions, but getting those thoughts off his chest made him feel lighter. He sat at the stone for several more minutes, pondering the conundrum of his new roommate. Seriously, why was the jerk being so nice? Had he presented such a pitiful face at the fire that Kakashi felt he had to be kind? Iruka doubted it – he'd been injured and in the hospital when Kakashi had walked in and told him in a roundabout way that he thought Iruka was weak. Even called him _cute_.

Bleh. Cute. What a sickly-sweet derogatory term of endearment. Just what every guy wanted to hear.

Maybe Iruka hadn't looked so pathetic at the fire, but maybe Kakashi had seen Iruka's depression and had sympathized? It wasn't very likely. The guy was predictable to a fault. Iruka had done a very thorough workout this morning instead of practicing his jutsu like he normally would because he knew Kakashi would probably follow him – to find out if Iruka was going to tell anybody where he lived most likely. The man was nothing if not suspicious and prone to snooping around people he found different. It was all logged in his psych evaluation in his file. Iruka had felt the chakra flare of Kakashi following him after he left the apartment (admittedly it was a small one and he wouldn't have sensed it at all if he hadn't been looking for it) and because of that flare he had been able to track Kakashi's presence most of the way to the training ground.

That was one thing Iruka didn't want Kakashi to know: what he did during training. It may not have been anything compared to what Kakashi had seen in the past, but he wanted to keep it private for as long as possible. That jutsu… it was his last connection to his parents.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka walked into the apartment and stopped. Something wasn't right. He smelled… food. Food without smoke. So he flipped off his sandals and made his way into the living room to investigate. Smelling things that could potentially mean an apartment that was on fire usually made him wary.

Above the half wall that curled its way around the kitchen he could see Kakashi in front of the stove with something in the wok before him. As Iruka came closer, Kakashi said, "Iruka-sensei, can you tell if the chicken is done?"

Iruka walked into the kitchen and peeked into the wok. A large amount of meat looked like it had been smothered in teriyaki glaze was bubbling and dark brown in the bottom. "Any longer and it's going to start to burn."

Kakashi removed the wok from the heat and started dumping the contents onto little plates. "I don't cook very often because I can't always tell when it's done," he explained. "Takeout is a lot easier and usually tastes better."

Iruka looked at the table where a bowl of slightly overdone rice sat at his place along with some pickled vegetables, cucumber salad, and what appeared to be sautéed eggplant and onions. At least the sautéed combo didn't _look_ overcooked. The pickled vegetables and cucumber salad were both very similar to each other and, thankfully, raw so they couldn't be overdone.

But then… Iruka realized that he didn't have anything to complain about. Naruto couldn't cook anything. It was one of the reasons the blond boy liked ramen so much: he could boil water. Just barely.

"It looks good," Iruka said as he took his seat at the table. It wasn't an outright lie since it didn't look bad. It appeared to be edible. It just had a bit more… character… than Iruka was used to his food containing.

"It didn't turn out right," Kakashi snapped as he set a plate of chicken in front of Iruka. It appeared that cooking – or, more accurately, not doing something perfectly – grated on Kakashi's nerves.

Iruka shrugged as he watched Kakashi take his seat on the other side of the table. "Then I guess you know what you don't want to do next time you decide to make something."

Kakashi glanced up at Iruka, who had grabbed his chopsticks and was staring down at his food with his head resting on one hand. It was a very relaxed and easy position that gave Kakashi the privacy to eat his food at a normal human pace. "You're treating this as a learning experience?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Iruka said to his chicken, which he was picking at. "I'll admit it's a bit more Cajun than I'm used to, but it doesn't look bad. Next time you may want to stir it more and not let it go so long." He took a bite. "But the teriyaki sauce is good."

"It came from a bottle," Kakashi griped as he tried a piece of his own. Iruka's home-made stir-fry with his teriyaki sauce made from scratch was much better. Although, this sauce wasn't bad…

"The sauce you used… did it come from the miso teriyaki bottle?" Iruka asked.

Kakashi stared at Iruka, his mask pulled down and he was about to take a bite. "Yeah, that one," he said suspiciously.

"That's a bottle of my home made teriyaki," Iruka said with a small proud smile. "I re-used the bottle after I dumped the moldy sauce that had been in it and washed it. That way I don't have to prepare it at every meal."

Kakashi looked down at his plate contemplatively. He hadn't realized what a pain it was to prepare five different items all at once in just the right proportions for two people. The rice in the rice cooker pretty much cooked itself, and the pickled vegetables and cucumber salad just took some cutting and mixing, but making the eggplant dish and the chicken had taken a lot more juggling than he'd expected. Then the chicken took a lot longer to make than the eggplant. "Tomorrow, let's go out to eat," he said.

"You can," Iruka said. "I'll stay in, if you don't mind."

"Maa, Sensei, why would you want to do that?" Kakashi asked lightly. "It's so much easier to go out! You shouldn't have to cook all your meals."

"I'd like to," Iruka said. Kakashi was truly amazed at the dedication Iruka had toward the slightly charred food before him, and his courtesy of keeping his gaze lowered so Kakashi could "enjoy" his food. "However, I'm not feeling up to running into students."

"I thought you liked talking to your students," Kakashi asked curiously. He'd always noticed that whenever a current or past student approached Iruka, which happened quite often, Iruka would always take a few minutes to at least greet the kid. He seemed to genuinely enjoy the interactions.

"I _do_ like it," Iruka said slowly, "but I'm kind of at a low point in my life right now. I don't feel up to being social."

"What?" Kakashi asked after a brief moment. "You, at a low point in your life? Naw….. I don't believe it."

"Believe it!" Iruka said in a falsely enthusiastic way that was dramatically reminiscent of a blond Genin they'd both taught. "And where's my ramen?"

Kakashi looked down at the food he'd made and said, "Maa… Naruto, its right in front of you disguised as eggplant. If you eat it, it'll be just like ramen."

Iruka broke out into laughter. "Too bad Naruto wouldn't fall for that," he said.

"Have you ever tried?" Kakashi asked lightly as they resumed eating. Now that his mood had lightened, Iruka dug into his food a little more enthusiastically, making Kakashi smile underneath his mask.

"He's come over to my house for dinner pretty regularly since he made Genin," Iruka admitted. "I don't have to blackmail him into eating his vegetables now, but to get him to this point I tried everything. For some reason he didn't believe that his carrots were actually ninja disguised as carrots."

Kakashi chuckled, almost causing Iruka to look up in surprise. He resisted the urge, but he was pretty sure he'd jerked a little. "If Naruto was twelve, then I'm sure he wanted to believe…. Believe it!"

Iruka chuckled. "Oh, you know him – he said he couldn't believe something as silly as that, but he ate them anyway. Nowadays I think he's found some vegetables that he likes, although I think he still looks at the ones he doesn't like as enemy ninja who need to be taken out."

With a laugh from both men they lapsed into silence and ate their food. It was surprisingly comfortable to just sit there and eat, and it only took a few minutes before Iruka had finished everything. Then he started clearing away his dishes.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked from the table.

"I'm doing the dishes," Iruka said, turning back to finally look Kakashi in the eye. He noticed with a little bit of disappointment that his roommate's face was covered once again.

"It's okay," Kakashi said. "I cooked, so I'll clean."

"Well, you cooked, so I'll do dishes. That way neither one of us feels stuck doing all the work each time."

That didn't jive with Kakashi. "But you did the breakfast and lunch dishes, and all the dishes and cooking since you got here except for last night," Kakashi said. "I can do some of the work."

Iruka paused as he waited for the sink to fill with hot water. "You're asking for work?" he asked, mystified. "The lazy Jounin who reads porn, sits through training, is always late, and can't turn in a decent mission report is offering to do more work?"

"Yes," Kakashi said with a smile in his voice.

"Has the sun blown up and I just don't know it?" Iruka teased as he dumped soap into the dishwater.

"Maa… Sensei, you make me sound untrustworthy!" Kakashi almost wined.

Iruka sighed. "I thought you hated housework because of how dirty the place was when I got here," the brunet admitted.

"I don't hate housework," Kakashi admitted as he brought a few remaining dishes over to the sink. "I just don't need to do it. Nobody ever comes over."

Iruka glanced over at the lazy Jounin who was leaning comfortably against the counter. "A house as groady as yours used to be is completely unsanitary! I'm surprised you didn't get tetanus from all the dust."

"I'm up on all my shots," Kakashi said. "The Hokage won't send me out on missions anymore unless I've had all of my medical checkups and shots and tests. She's such a killjoy."

"It's for your own good," Iruka said, "and that of your team. Are you so suicidal that you don't care about how your life impacts others?" he asked with a hint of irritation and irony in his voice.

Kakashi's head almost snapped back in surprise. Suicidal? He wasn't suicidal? Sure, he took risks, but he wasn't wishing for death. At least, he wasn't anymore. Not since Naruto had unwittingly beat some sense into his head. "I do what I do to protect the village. And hospitals are horrible."

Iruka could see some of that. Hospitals were horrible places. They smelled like antiseptic and they were so hushed a person could hear a fly sneeze at the other end of the building. It didn't help the only time anyone went there was when they were hurt or sick, or to visit someone who was hurt or sick. "I guess I just think the best way to avoid hospital visits is to make it so that I never have to go," he said as he started washing dishes. "I try not to get sick, and I train my students as best I can so I don't have to visit them."

"What about when you get injured?" Kakashi asked.

With a sigh Iruka said, "As you probably know, I haven't had a mission in several months, and I haven't had an A ranked mission in about a year. There isn't much that can harm me beyond some cuts from kunai practice at the academy."

"You've had missions so recently?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka paused in his scrubbing, looking over at the white haired man leaning against the counter next to him. "You thought it had been longer?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah…" Kakashi mumbled with a thoughtful look at Iruka. "I almost never see you gone from the mission desk, so I assumed you don't go on missions anymore."

"And my file says that I hadn't done an A ranked mission for a few years before the last one," Iruka said with a suspicious glance over at his roommate. "When did you read my file?"

There was a long pause as Kakashi appeared to debate what he was going to say. Then he said, "I read it a long time ago, after Naruto left with Jiraiya."

"Random timing," Iruka said as he went back to scrubbing.

Kakashi sighed and gave up the game. "I was looking for Sasuke. I figured that knowing everything about his past and reading the histories of the people from his past would help me understand where I messed up."

Iruka turned toward Kakashi again in surprise. That was a lot of insecurity that he'd just been privy to, which was completely unlike the famous Sharingan no Kakashi. Not only was he shocked at what Kakashi had told him, he was also shocked at the implications behind the words. Kakashi felt bad that one of his students had turned into an S-ranked missing nin? He took the blame for it himself? He felt responsible?

"You know, Naruto told me about that confrontation on the roof by the water towers," Iruka said slowly. "He said that everything had been pretty much okay by the time Sasuke had disappeared behind the towers. But do you know what? I'll bet Sasuke saw the damage behind the towers, and realized that although the Chidori did greater damage to the front, Naruto's Rasengan did more damage overall to his tower, and blew a big messy hole in the back." At Kakashi's questioning look Iruka added, "I was on the team that had to repair those a couple days later. Then Naruto told me about the confrontation and Sasuke leaving… the pieces clicked into place."

"So… it's your belief that seeing the damage the Rasengan produced made Sasuke join Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka chuckled softly in the back of his throat. "Of course it wasn't the cause!" he said. "But he and Naruto have been in competition since they met at the academy and had felt threatened by him almost since day one. He saw the potential in Naruto and felt some fear that Naruto had something he didn't – power, heart, strength of character… I don't know what. He felt threatened, and therefore goaded Naruto and tried to knock him down whenever he could."

Kakashi seemed lost in thought when Iruka stopped speaking. Had he gone a little too far again? Had he outstepped his bounds?

"What did he have to feel threatened about from Naruto?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Iruka shrugged. "Naruto is powerful, emotional, and free to be himself. He fights for everything he wants and he defends anyone who needs it. It's his ninja way, as he's always shouting at the top of his lungs. It's what Sasuke wants with all his heart – he wants to protect his dead clan from Itachi, and since he can't do that he wants to punish his brother for his loss. Naruto has always been his foil – the opposite side of his coin; the sun in his darkness; the innocence he felt was stripped of him when he came home to find his family murdered. Add to that the fact that Naruto was also an orphan and was hated for an unknown reason at the time, and you have the makings of an epic rivalry that could span a lifetime."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Kakashi murmured. "I didn't know you were so close."

"Well, Naruto took a lot of time, but Sasuke required his own share of attention. It's part of why I was a mother hen. I may have taken Naruto out for ramen a lot for dinner because that's when I could see him, Sasuke came over to my apartment for breakfast several times a week. He didn't open up to me as much as I would have liked, but he did tell me some things."

"Did you do that out of the kindness of your heart?" Kakashi asked. His one visible eye hadn't changed over the course of their conversation, but Iruka had the feeling he was giving the other Shinobi a lot to think about.

"Not entirely," Iruka admitted. "It wasn't a mission or anything, but the Third Hokage had asked me to keep an eye on Naruto once he was placed in my class. Then I saw how Sasuke seemed to be struggling and alone, so I decided to take him under my wing as well. Sasuke never seemed to appreciate it as much as Naruto yearned for it, so I'm not surprised that it didn't help him as much as it did for Naruto."

"Either way, it's admirable," Kakashi said in a soft voice. "It's your greatest weakness, but it's still admirable."

Iruka rolled his eyes and set the last dish in the drainer before he wiped his hands. "It depends on what you're doing," he snapped, irritated with this same old judgment that he'd heard before from this arrogant bastard. Without waiting for a response he turned away from Kakashi and said, "Pardon me a minute," before he headed off to the bathroom and almost slammed the door.

Kakashi quietly watched Iruka stalk off and sighed in relief when the door closed with the anger on the other side of the door. Then, realizing something, he quietly picked up his mug of tea and made his way to the couch. He'd just sat down and put the mug safely on the coffee table when he heard a deafening roar. It wasn't until the ringing in his ears subsided that he realized the roar had been Iruka shouting at him about the wet towel he'd left on the floor of the bathroom after his shower.

He'd been good thus far keeping the apartment neat, but what could he say? Old habits die hard.

* * *

Author's Note: I realize that there is a discrepency concerning the event on the hospital roof. It has been a long time since I saw that episode and, time being what it is, I don't have the time to re-watch it. So, I don't really remember if Naruto and Sasuke really were okay with each other, but I remember that there wasn't a true feeling of love/friendship, but they were okay with each other. And then Sasuke saw the back of Naruto's water tower and how completely it was destroyed. And then he and Kakashi had at "discussion." How off am I on this?


	7. Chapter 7

Sept – Chapter seven

* * *

Iruka opened the door and slammed it closed behind him. He flicked his sandals off with his toes and practically nosedived into the couch. The damn thing didn't open up into a bed – he'd checked the previous night after Kakashi had gone to his room – so his head jammed into the armrest awkwardly. The discomfort wasn't enough to make Iruka move, though. He was too tired.

He'd come home with enough time to lie on the couch for an hour or so before he had to get his ass up and make dinner. He could lie here, maybe fall asleep, and when he woke up, he'd be in his apartment with his single bed and his groceries in the fridge and…

The door opened. Iruka let out a sigh as he heard light footsteps approach his makeshift bed. He didn't react when he heard a soft deep voice say, "Maa… Sensei, did you have a rough day at work?"

Kakashi waited for a response, so Iruka grunted noncommittally. He didn't bother to move or otherwise respond to his roommate's presence.

"Iruka-sensei, do you still want to cook dinner?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka grunted "Mm-hmm." He would get started once he recuperated a little bit. Then he'd get up and hobble over to the refrigerator and…

"How about I take us out for dinner?" Kakashi asked as he leaned over Iruka's head. "Isn't it uncomfortable to have your neck in that position?" Kakashi asked.

"Mm-hmm," Iruka grunted again, answering the second question and ignoring the first one.

However, Kakashi didn't understand that. "Great! I'll just change into civilian clothes and we can go out…" he started moving away, but Iruka's hand shot out to grab Kakashi's pant leg.

"I will cook dinner. You may go out if you want," Iruka stated slowly, his head never moving from the cushion it was buried in.

"Why not?" Kakashi asked, the light tone never once leaving his voice.

"Because I'm going to have to buy furniture," Iruka said, finally turning his head so that he could look up at Kakashi. "When a space becomes available, I'm going to need to basically buy everything all over again: furniture, food, cookware, books, clothing… I have money saved, but that's for me to live off of when I retire."

"You're preparing for retirement?" Kakashi asked, stunned. Ninja rarely survived long enough to retire. But then, Iruka didn't go on many missions. Once he stopped teaching, his income would cease, too.

"Yeah," Iruka said as he sat up and rubbed his face. "There will come a time when I can't stand my students anymore, and you idiot Jounins drive me up the wall as it is. Ninja don't have an income without missions, and when I'm forced to quit my current missions I won't be able to care for myself. I… don't have any children to take care of me when I get old."

Kakashi stared at Iruka in open surprise. After a moment he shook himself out of his awe and said, "Then I'll buy you dinner."

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka plopped his butt down on the stool in front of the Ichiraku Ramen shop and nearly fell down. He righted himself –he'd missed his stool by half a tush – and chuckled in embarrassment.

"Sensei… are you okay?" Kakashi asked with a concerned look in his eye.

"I'm just tired," Iruka said with a smile. "I wasn't really ready to go out for the evening."

"Maa… of course you weren't, Sensei! I dragged you directly here from my couch."

"Yeah, about that," Iruka asked as Teuchi the ramen man noticed them and started heading over. "Why exactly is it that you are insisting that I don't make dinner?"

Kakashi shrugged noncommittally and said, "It just doesn't seem right that you lose your house and then become my servant when I let you live with me."

"Hey, Iruka-sensei. How're you doing?" Teuchi asked from the other side of the bar. "I heard you lost your apartment in that fire the other day."

"Yeah…" Iruka mumbled, still shocked over what Kakashi had just told him. Who knew The Great Copy Nin could be so considerate?

"Did they ever tell you how it started?" Teuchi asked.

"It was my downstairs neighbor," Iruka said. "Mrs. Takanachi was burning a candle and forgot about it. She and her husband went out because their kids were at their grandmother's for a sleepover and… poof. Fire."

Kakashi looked over at Iruka with an interested look in his eye. "When did you hear that?" he asked.

"Shizune left a letter in my box at the Academy this morning," Iruka replied. "She probably got there a little before I did and asked the secretary to make sure I got it."

"You have a box at the academy?" Teuchi asked, looking a little lost.

"It's a mailbox," Iruka explained, wondering how the conversation had managed to switch. "It's a way for the Hokage, the Academy administration, parents, other faculty, and even students who need to give us things after hours or when we're busy teaching, so they can reach us easily on things concerning school or our students. Or our homes burning down. Or missions. I found my last three mission scrolls in my box when I came to work in the morning."

"That seems pretty convenient," Kakashi said. "Kind of messed up that you didn't get a mission from the missions office or an official summons from the Hokage if it was important, but…"

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

Iruka knew that voice. He could have turned around to see Naruto barreling down the street toward him, but he didn't even bother. No… if he just put his hands on the edge of the counter then he could be prepared to brace when…

Naruto rammed into Iruka's back as he threw his arms around his favorite teacher's chest. His momentum carried both Shinobi forward, and it was fortunate that Iruka was facing the counter with his arms braced for impact or else his back would have had a huge painful bruise across it for days. As it was, his arms caught them and he could receive the hug Naruto was giving him with only the pain of squished ribs.

"Hi Naruto," Iruka managed to squeeze out despite the lack of air in his lungs. "How have you been?"

"I'm so happy to see you're okay," Naruto mumbled into Iruka's back. Then Iruka felt Naruto release him and turn his stool around so they were looking into each other's eyes. "I heard about the fire the next day and I saw the wreckage and I knew it was your home! So I went to Grandma Tsunade and the old hag wouldn't tell me where you were. She just said some crap about you needing time with your new roommate to get used to each other. Then I had all of this training because Kaka-Baka wouldn't stop our training on Saturday or today – and he's been weird doing training kind of like you used to do, but special for each of us teaching us jutsu and having us practice and…"

Iruka looked over at Kakashi, wondering briefly if Naruto knew the Jounin was right there listening in or if he'd noticed and then forgotten. Either way, Naruto kept rambling and Kakashi wore a carefully disinterested look on the area of face the world could see.

"Naruto," Iruka said, breaking into Naruto's rant. The boy paused, looking at Iruka and waiting for the older man to continue. "I'm glad to see you! And I'm touched that you were worried about me. I'm fine, and I'm living with Kakashi-sensei until a space opens up and I can be assigned an apartment."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "You're staying with _Kakashi-sensei_?!" he screeched.

"Who is staying with Kakashi-sensei, Dickless?" a soft voice asked. Iruka focused behind Naruto and saw Sakur and Sai approaching at a comfortably slow pace (at least, comfortably slow when compared to Naruto's mad attack on Iruka).

"Iruka is," Naruto all but shouted at his teammate, finally turning his shocked stare away from Iruka. "His house was the one that burned down, and now he's staying with Kakashi-sensei!"

"I didn't know you bent that way, Sensei," Sai said to Iruka. "If you're living together, then aren't you going to be getting married soon?"

Sakura's fist was so fast Iruka couldn't see it move as she hit Sai on the head. "He's not gay!" she snapped. "Well," she amended with a touch of pink in her cheeks, "he might be gay. I wouldn't really know. But that's not why he's staying with Kakashi. There isn't a place to stay because of the Chunin exams. Kakashi-sensei has the space for another person even if he doesn't have a second bedroom."

"Thank you, Sakura," Iruka said to the Kunoichi.

"Then, if you don't have a place to stay, isn't it appropriate that one of us buys him dinner?" Sai asked Sakura.

"Yeah," she said. Then she moved forward to take a stool next to Iruka and told Teuchi, "I'll pay for Iruka-sensei's dinner."

"No, I will!" Naruto said loudly as he started to push Sakura off her stool. "He's my favorite sensei, so I'll buy him ramen!"

"Naruto, stop pushing!" Sakura screeched.

"Sakura, let me pay!"

"You never pay! You're such a cheepskate!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I am not!"

"Yes you are!"

Iruka sighed and rubbed his scarred nose in irritation. Clearly after four years neither one had managed to mature. "CHILDREN!" he shouted, using his Teacher Voice to grab their attention. Both teens froze in their struggle over the stool and looked at Iruka in horror. Good. He still had them trained.

"Kakashi-sensei already offered to pay for my dinner," Iruka said in a calm voice as he made eye contact with each of his previous students. "Thank you for your generous offers, but I think I'll stick with my original plan."

Naruto stepped back from Sakura slowly, his eyes never leaving his old sensei. "Are you sure? Because I've been saving and it's only right I pay for you after you've paid for me so many times."

"I'm sure," Iruka said with a nod. "Would you three care to join us? I'd like to catch up…"

"BELIEVE IT!" Naruto shouted as he jumped onto the stool next to Sakura's. "Kakashi-sensei, are you going to pay for mine, too?"

"NARUTO!" Iruka shouted again, causing Naruto's head to snap around in surprise. "Quit acting like such a kid! Kakashi-sensei offered to pay for me because I don't have anything. You save your mission pay, so you can afford to pay for yourself. Quit expecting people to pay for you now that you're a successful Shinobi!"

"Awwwwww! But sensei, it's tradition for a sensei to pay for his student!" Naruto whined, the serious mood evaporating with the familiar old argument between academy sensei and student.

"No it isn't," Sakura said. "Iruka-sensei never took me out to ramen! He just likes you a lot so he treated you!"

"He did not!" Naruto griped at his teammate.

"Yes I did," Iruka said with a chuckle as he swiveled back to the counter. "I liked you and I felt bad that you were alone, so sometimes I took you out. I couldn't do it for everyone, so I'm sorry I didn't give you any special treatment Sakura, but I did do it for you."

Naruto just gaped at his Academy-sensei.

"It's okay, Iruka-sensei," Sakura broke in with a smile. "I didn't expect you to do anything for me. I was a little nuts when I was in your class."

Iruka chuckled. "I wouldn't say that," he said with a smile. "But you and Ino were just so in love that you drowned everything else out. Now, what shall I order tonight? Mr. Teuchi, may I have the miso ramen? I don't think I've had that in a while."

With that the conversation turned to normal topics.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi watched as Iruka dragged himself toward the Hokage Tower and his shift at the Mission Desk. In the end, he'd paid for not only Iruka's dinner, but that of his students' as well. It had amused him to no end when Naruto had pulled his full little frog purse out of his pocket and apologized to it before gingerly opening it to remove the required money. It was as funny as when he realized that the blond had only eaten one bowl of ramen because he was the one who had to pay for it.

"So, Sensei, when are you marrying the other sensei?" Sai asked.

Damn that brat. "Excuse me?" he asked mildly as he swiveled back to look at the newest member of Team Seven.

"Sai, you IDIOT!" Sakura screeched as she punched the idiot savant in the ear. Sai, Kakashi noticed, didn't dodge the attack, although he did move with it so that he wasn't hurt by Sakura's massive strength. "Don't say something so stupid like that!"

"Why not?" the younger man asked in his emotionless tone.

"Because it's none of our business," Sakura hissed. Then she turned to Kakashi and said, "Sorry, Sensei."

"Maa… Sakura, do you believe that I should ask Iruka-sensei out?" Kakashi asked, turning his visible eye up in a smile.

"Umm…. I don't know," Sakura said. "Do you go for guys?"

Kakashi blinked. Was she taking the question seriously? "Sai seems to think so," he replied noncommittally.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That isn't an answer, Kakashi-sensei." She waited for Kakashi to give her a real answer, but when it became clear that Kakashi wasn't going to do that, she said, "I guess if you like guys and you seem to be good to Iruka-sensei what with letting him stay at your place and taking him out to eat, I wouldn't be opposed to you asking him out."

The three male Shinobi just stared at the pinkette. Then Naruto pointed at her and said, "Who are you and what did you do with my friend?"

"What?!" she screeched as she took a swipe at the blond idiot. Kakashi watched them enact the same game that they'd partaken of as children while he took the time to collect his thoughts.

Did he like Iruka? The guy cleaned his house, made him meals, and bought food for the refrigerator. He exploded at little things like wet towels on the floor, but the pack took to him faster than they had Naruto. He was smitten – he'd already admitted it to himself. Would he want to pursue a relationship with the volatile Sensei?

Was he ready for a relationship? BN (Before Naruto) he'd been a manic-depressive killing machine who had been ordered to take Genin teams in an attempt to soften him to social interaction. Now AN (After Naruto) he allowed people in and had a few friends. Okay, so he had one friend. But Gai now was more true friend than Eternal Rival. Asuma had been his friend before his death, and now Kurenai had sort of managed to take her husband's place (but not really, because she was a woman and he liked her for totally different reasons than he had Asuma).

He knew he was messed up. Obito had taught him that. Even though he'd taken Obito's death to heart and had changed, he still hadn't let anyone close until Naruto and Sasuke had managed to worm their ways under his skin. He knew sex, but he didn't know relationships. Iruka seemed like a relationship kind of guy.

Either way, he had better wait until he knew Iruka better. He'd only really known they guy for a few days, even if he'd been aware of his existence for a few years. He'd have to wait and see if he liked the guy enough to give a relationship a try. After all, it was quite a risk.

What if Iruka broke his heart?


	8. Chapter 8

Huit – Eight. Not sure if I spelled it right. Pronounced like "wheat."

* * *

Kakashi had had the strangest week. Iruka was barely there. The guy left before Kakashi woke up, stopped by long enough for a quick nap and some dinner, then rushed off to the Mission Office where he worked for four hours. Then he came back to the apartment and started grading the academy exams.

So, on the first Friday after Iruka had become Kakashi's roommate, after a couple of hours of training his students – he'd been trying to wake up to find out where Iruka went so early but hadn't found him yet, so he shocked his students by showing up on time – Kakashi went to a furniture store.

Naruto had actually made a comment two days previously to Sakura that he was surprised Iruka wasn't having any problems with Kakashi's lumpy couch. Sakura had asked Naruto why he'd said that and the blond had responded by telling a very interesting story. Kakashi had put down his Icha Icha in order to hear every detail about how, after Naruto's Genin exams, the poor, dejected boy who had failed had been tricked by an evil man named Mizuki into stealing the village's secret scroll. Iruka-sensei had found him before Mizuki could and had seen that the boy had been practicing a jutsu from the scroll.

They were going to head home when the Evil Mizuki had shown up and demanded the scroll from the unsuspecting pre-Genin boy. They started arguing, and the fact that the boy was the Kyuubi container had been revealed. Then the Evil Mizuki had attacked the boy, and Iruka-sensei had heroically thrown himself in front of the weapon, taking a giant shuriken in the back for him. The boy had run, but Iruka had flushed out the Evil Mizuki and confronted him, despite the severe injury to his spine and declared that he didn't think the boy was a monster because of the beast inside of him – the beast that had killed Iruka-sensei's parents. Then, the boy had used his newly-learned Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu and beat the Evil Mizuki to a pulp.

Seriously, Jiraiya couldn't have written a better story. What was so sad was that Sakura could only focus on the fact that Naruto was the container of the Nine-tailed fox. Kakashi had watched over a discussion about Naruto's abilities and the Kyuubi, all the while thinking about the information he had just acquired.

Iruka had taken a giant shuriken to the back, and then he had continued to run and fight despite the severe injury. That alone took strength and determination. Then, he had taken a hug Naruto and walked with him back to town and into the hospital. Sai had inquired into Iruka's injuries – to Kakashi's amazement – and Naruto had said that Iruka had suffered three ribs broken at the spine, and a chip off of one of his vertebrae. Naruto tried to remember which one, but he'd started rambling and it became clear he had no clue what he was talking about.

Thus, Kakashi had decided to buy Iruka a bed. The man had been walking stiffly most of the week. Kakashi wasn't sure how much of that was just Iruka's exhaustion and stress versus how much was from his bad back. Then, he'd noticed Iruka had nowhere to put his spare clothes except into his pack, which he kept by the side of the couch along with that gaudy old shield. It didn't help that Iruka had no privacy, either.

It felt very odd… suddenly Kakashi felt like his apartment was wrong. He needed something different to accommodate Iruka. He'd thought briefly of inviting Iruka to join him on his bed, but Pakkun had quashed that with a resounding no. The bed wasn't big enough, and the dogs weren't going to give up their positions for Iruka just yet. The pug had huffed and turned his head away when Kakashi told him that sleeping on the bed was a privilege that could easily be taken away.

So, he found himself walking into a furniture store to purchase a bed and a dresser for his temporary houseguest.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka walked home and stopped in the entryway.

Where was the couch?

Seriously, where had it gone? It was missing! In its place was a huge bed with a dresser right next to it against the far wall. From the ceiling hung a track with curtains that draped down and could be pulled around the bed to create some privacy.

What. The. Hell?

"Kakashi!" Iruka shouted, desperate for some answers. "Kakashi! Are you here?"

"Give me a minute," came a muffled voice from the direction of the bathroom. Then Iruka heard a flush. A minute later the door opened and a completely relaxed Jounin came wandering out.

"What's wrong, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked as he stood between the kitchen counter and the new bedroom-ish-thingy.

"Where's my couch?" Iruka asked, pointing at the bed. "I had a couch there, but now its gone."

"I put it in my storage facility," Kakashi said with a shrug. "I don't think it was doing your back any favors."

Iruka just stood there for a moment, stunned. "But you bought me a bed?" he asked, completely confused.

"I also bought you a dresser for your things," Kakashi said brightly, his eye turning up in a smile. "And then I bought a wall rack for your shield." Iruka noticed the rack and shield attached to the wall directly above the bed. How had he missed that?

"So you just… walked into a store, bought a bed, and brought it back here?" Iruka asked.

"Well, they said it would take a day to deliver it, so I asked them to bring me the one in the back and I transported it and the frame here. Then I went and did the same thing for the dresser. The shield rack and the linins I just purchased from the store and brought back. Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Kakashi asked, concern showing from his eye.

Iruka was not okay. He felt himself weaving, and his legs felt weak. First Kakashi had given him a place to stay, then he'd loaned him some clothes and bought him dinner, and now he'd given him a bedroom set?! Some kindness was to be expected from all Shinobi, especially if Shizune or Tsunade demanded it, but this furniture? Mattresses and dressers were expensive – almost investments.

"Okay, Iruka. Come over here and sit down," Kakashi said in an easy voice as he reached for the overwrought academy teacher. He guided the younger man over to the bed and eased him down. "Now, doesn't that feel nice?"

Iruka bounced a couple of times on the squishy mattress and couldn't help but nod. It felt nice, like it would be firm enough to give support but soft enough to be comfortable. But that was beside the point. "You bought me a bed?" he asked again.

"Yes," Kakashi said with a smile. "Do you like it?"

"It's fine," Iruka said.

"Just fine?" Kakashi asked with a teasing lilt to his voice. "I spent a lot of time picking out a bed that would be comfortable. I hoped it would be more than fine."

"It's great," Iruka said sharply. "That's not the point. You bought me a bed!"

"Yeah, I bought you a bed," Kakashi replied, his smile suddenly looking a bit forced.

"_Why_ did you buy me a bed?" Iruka asked. "I don't get it!"

Kakashi stared at Iruka. Was he going to have to explain it? Really? Couldn't Iruka just take the gift as he'd meant it – as a kindness? The Chunin had nothing, he worked himself to the bone, and he was always there for others. The previous day, Kakashi had learned Iruka had been selected to proctor the third part of the Chunin exam, and that Iruka had accepted the task. He'd learned about all the kind things Iruka took on as he read through Iruka's file – and paid complete attention this time.

Although… it did make sense that Iruka wasn't prepared for this kind of gift. Kakashi supposed it was kind of big – and expensive now that he thought about it. Guys just didn't buy other guys presents like that without a reason, he supposed. Iruka deserved to know what it was.

"I got you a bed because it felt right," Kakashi said. "It didn't seem right that you slept on the couch with no place to put your stuff, so I got you a bed and a dresser and a rack for your shield. You're going to be here for about a month or two, depending on how long the exams take, so you may as well get comfortable." There, that wasn't too hard.

"Kakashi-san, I won't be able to pay you back."

Was that what Iruka was worried about? Well, he had to put an end to that.

"Maa, Sensei, I don't expect you to pay me back," Kakashi said with a smile. "You are a good man. You deserve this at least!"

Instead of the reaction that Kakashi expected – for Iruka's face to soften, smile, and say thank you – Iruka's eyes narrowed and he looked at Kakashi with suspicion. "What do you mean I'm a good man?" he asked in a hard voice.

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise. "You were a great mentor for Naruto," he said. "You teach little brats to become Shinobi. You work in the Mission room. The pack likes you. You make me dinner. You're a good person, and you deserve to have your own stuff and a place to call your own."

Iruka just stood in stunned silence. He did all that? And Kakashi… noticed? It made Iruka feel kind of… special.

"Earth to Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei, are you okay?" Kakashi said as he waved his fingers in front of Iruka's eyes, causing the brunet to jump backward.

"I'm just surprised," Iruka said with an awkward chuckle. "Who knew the Copy Nin noticed an unimportant Chunin?"

Kakashi frowned and stepped toward Iruka angrily. "Who knew that a Chunin who refuses to listen to any gossip about anyone else would listen to the bullshit people say about him!" Kakashi snapped. "You're a smart man, Sensei, and you're caring and you take on the two hardest jobs in the village, and yet you believe you're stupid? Lowly? Insignificant? How many of your students are Chunin now? How many are Jounin? How many of your students have helped lower the death rate among Shinobi? Those are individually small things you've done, but they led to big things and those big things make all the difference when high and mighty people like the Copy Nin have to lead them into battle!"

Kakashi watched as the Chunin that he'd faced breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath after Kakashi's rant. Slowly the eyes lost their surprised roundness and his breathing evened. He slowly scooched forward back toward the edge of the bed – he'd jerked himself back when Kakashi had started a slow, threatening advance toward him. Then he looked Kakashi in the eye and said, "You are the Great Copy Nin."

"That's what they tell me," Kakashi said. "It's not like I listen to that crap that they spread around about me."

"Really?" Iruka asked as stood up and stretched. "There's a story going around that you once slept with four women at the same time, and your lovemaking was so wonderful that all four of them proposed to you the next day."

"Huh… I don't remember anything like that," Kakashi said as he watched Iruka opening and closing drawers on the dresser. "Iruka-sensei, are you looking for something?"

"Where's my pack?" Iruka asked.

"I put it under the bed," Kakashi said. When Iruka shot him a questioning look he just shrugged and said, "It's not like I know where you want to put any of it." With an acknowledging nod Iruka reached for his pack and started putting things away.

"What about the one where you sleep with someone new every night?" Iruka asked with an amused smile on his face.

"Honestly, Sensei, have you seen me bring anyone home?" Kakashi asked, a little put out. Did people really think him so much of a slut?

"Of course not," Iruka said with good humor. "Of course, you are a super-ninja. You could sneak them in and I'd never know."

"Iruka-sensei!" Kakashi started in surprise.

Iruka glanced over at Kakashi and smile. "Seriously, Kakashi-san, most of the rumors about you are completely unbelievable. It's just kind of fun to hear what people will come up with next."

"I've never done anything like… that," Kakashi said, waving his hand from side to side in reference to the stories Iruka had just told. "I was pretty prolific when I was young, I guess. But I don't do stupid things like that anymore. At least, not since I had chlamydia."

Iruka stopped and stared at Kakashi over his shoulder. "You have chlamydia?" he asked, stunned.

"No, I _had_ it. I took medicine and I'm fine _now_. After that I stopped sleeping with people unless I knew they were clean. That was not comfortable!"

"I'd imagine not," Iruka said as he tucked his pack into a particularly large drawer. "I guess it would put a damper on things.

"I haven't slept with someone in…. hmm…. I guess its been about a year? Maybe a little less."

Iruka shot a skeptical look at Kakashi as he stepped up on the bed. "I find it hard to believe that a handsome man like you has been celibate for so long." Then he reached up and took the shield off the wall hanger and flipped it over before replacing it on the wall. "There, now its right-side up," he said. "Can't have my family shield facing the wrong way."

"Your family is from the Land of Water?" Kakashi asked. He'd figured it was a shield picked up on a mission that had saved Iruka's life or something. He'd had no idea that it had been a family heirloom.

"Several generations ago my some-odd-great-great-grandfather helped the first Hokage start this village. He was from the Village Hidden in the Mist and had betrayed his village in order to start Konoha. We kept the shield and our jutsu as part of the family tradition, although I'm sure that by now we've bastardized it so much that no one from Mist would ever recognize it."

"Interesting," Kakashi said. "I thought it was just a trinket."

"It is just a trinket," Iruka said. "It used to be a pretty trinket, but the paint all burned off in the fire. But it used to be a family crest. My parents told me that we used to be part of a big clan in Mist, but we were an offshoot branch without a bloodline limit."

"You could have been part of the main family," Kakashi said evenly as he moved over to the kitchen table to grab a chair and sit. "My clan doesn't have a bloodline limit, but we once held a lot of power in the village."

"True," Iruka agreed. "Either way, it's little more than a family legend. I belong to Konoha, so it doesn't matter what position my family held before we came here."

"I suppose it doesn't," Kakashi said from his new seat across the room. "You need to try lying on the bed."

Iruka didn't need urging. He sat back down on the side of the bed and flopped back, his arms splayed out beside him. "This is nice," he said.

Kakashi felt an impulse and he followed it. He followed it over to the bed, where he sat down next to the academy teacher and flopped back next to him.

"Yeah, this is nice."


	9. Chapter 9

09 – neuf. Rhymes with enough. Not to be confused with oeuf, which means egg. Although there is a joke about a kid who went into a shop and asked for "un oeuf" – one egg. The shopkeeper said, "You want a dozen?" and the kid said, "No, un oeuf is enough."

* * *

Kakashi sat on his bed and hugged Pakkun to his chest. The loud ruckus outside the door seemed to halt for a moment before it started up again even louder! He felt himself shake a little harder. People in his house, having fun with his roommate… and after all that bullshit that the others had said…

Seriously, he and Iruka were NOT sleeping together! Having a bed in the living room proved that! Why have a bed in the living room with a curtain for privacy if both people were sleeping together? They'd be in the same room, and the couch would still be in its spot!

"Boss, you need to loosen up," Pakkun said in his gruff voice. "This is starting to hurt."

"Oh…. Sorry," Kakashi said as he let Pakkun jump to the floor.

"If you didn't want to have this party, then why did you let Iruka-kun throw it?" the dog asked in irritation. He shook himself and then looked askance up at his human.

Kakashi shrugged. "I can't keep him from having his life," he said.

"You could tell him to have this party somewhere else," Pakkun said. "They didn't have to come here."

"Yes they did," Kakashi said with the saddest tone he could muster. "He lives here, and they wanted to see where he lives."

"Oh, Boss, you're so naïve," Pakkun grumbled. "They wanted to see you with Iruka-kun. You're pretty famous, you know."

"That's what they keep telling me," Kakashi mumbled. "I get that I'm famous, but where do you come up with me being naïve?"

"They could have picked Iruka-kun up and then gone to a bar or something," Pakkun said as he waddled toward the door. "They would have seen you and him together and then left you alone."

Kakashi quickly thought about the evening he'd had so far. A lot of gay jokes had been flung between Kotetsu and Izumo, and then they'd started interrogating Kakashi about his sexual habits and his intentions toward Iruka. It probably would have been better had they left the apartment. He also wouldn't be so terrified that they would burn his Icha Icha if he ever hurt their little Iruka-chan.

Seriously! They had threatened his precious Icha Icha! Not cool!

And his intentions toward Iruka were pure. Well… innocent. Honest. Pure? It was possible, he supposed. He wasn't trying to get into Iruka's pants.

Although…. Why wasn't he? Guy or girl, he normally tried to get them in bed. With busy, tired people that was usually a little harder, but he normally enjoyed the challenge. Yet he wasn't trying with Iruka. To the contrary, he enjoyed spending time with him; talking or goofing off with the nin-ken. Or watching Iruka grade tests. Or eating dinner together.

Wait… were they married? They acted as if they were.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

"Okay, I think we scared him off," Kotetsu said as he shot a look at Kakashi's bedroom door. They were sitting around the table drinking hot beverages. "I'll bet he isn't listening at the door."

"Guys, I don't like this," Iruka said. "Why did you have to scare him out of the room? Didn't you want to come here to get to know him or something?"

"Nooooo, we just wanted to see what your life was like now," Izumo said. "We saw that when we saw the _bed_."

"Yeah, the _bed_," Kotetsu parroted in a very white gansta style. "Awesome bed, man!"

"Seeeriously!" Izumo said. "I think he likes you!"

"I hope so," Iruka said. "I've hardly been home. I hope he doesn't kick me out for not contributing or something."

"Dude!" Izumo said. "The bathroom sparkles. Either Gai was here or you cleaned it, and I know which one is the truth."

"Well, Gai could have been here," Kotetsu stated seriously. "He is Kakashi's best friend."

"Yeah, but I'll bet its Iruka cleaning," Izumo said in that way he did with Kotetsu only – annoyed and amused at the same time. "I'll also bet that you cook for him every night."

"Well, he took me out for dinner on Monday," Iruka said, irritated. "My life isn't for you guys to amuse yourselves with!"

"This isn't amusing!" Kotetsu protested. Both Iruka and Izumo glared at him in _that way_. "Well, it is a shit ton of fun," he admitted, "but we're really here to make sure you're okay."

"I'm okay!" Iruka said, his voice going high in defense.

"Are you sure?" Izumo asked.

"Yes!" Iruka said.

"Fine," Izumo said as he set his cup of lukewarm tea down on Kakashi's dinner table. "I believe you _are_ fine, but if anything changes you need to let me know, okay?"

Iruka sighed. Finally! "You guys are always my first call."

"Good. So… what prompted Kakashi to get you a _bed?_" Kotetsu asked.

"You're still fixated on the bed?" Izumo asked incredulously. "No matter how many years I've known you you've never ceased to amaze me."

"Well, it's kind of an odd gift," Kotetsu mumbled into his cup as he took a sip of coffee.

"He did it randomly," Iruka said. "It just showed up when I came home yesterday."

"Have you been limping or something?" Izumo asked. At Iruka's confused stare he said, "You've got a bad back and your leg was injured the day your apartment burned bad enough for you to go to the hospital. Not to mention having Genma's senbon stuck in one ass cheek probably has some lingering effects…."

"You remember that?" Iruka asked, surprised. "We were pretty drunk when I said that."

"I do listen, you know!" Izumo said with faked pride. "But getting back to what I was saying, I just figured that between your injuries and sleeping on a couch you may have started limping."

"The couch was comfortable," Iruka said with a shrug. "So, have you told Kotetsu that you have the hots for him?"

"What?" Kotetsu asked, his eyes snapping over to his roommate in shock.

"That's a non-sequitur," Izumo said, ignoring his roommate's stare. "Don't do that."

"What, am I opening up a topic you don't want discussed?" Iruka teased. "I'm only guessing you like Kotetsu since you said that the person you like doesn't know you exist."

"When did I say that?" Izumo asked, looking puzzled.

"Remember the night we got drunk?" Iruka teased. "You said something to that effect."

"Huh," Izumo said, scratching his head. "I remember talking about your butt and Ko's loneliness, but I don't…"

Apparently it didn't matter if Izumo recalled saying the ambiguous line or not since Kotetsu grabbed Izumo's arm and started hauling him out of the apartment. Of course Izumo tried to get away – flailing his arms and legs to get purchase on anything he could reach – but Kotetsu had him firmly in a headlock. It wasn't until the door slammed behind Iruka's two Chunin friends that Iruka realized that they had left their shoes in the entryway.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi heard a scuffle and the door slam shut after a few minutes of quiet murmuring he couldn't hear through the door. Then, after another minute he heard the door open, there was a scuffle, and the door slammed shut again. Tentatively, he poked his head out his door to see if there was any damage to his apartment.

Well, the place seemed fine. There were some dirty cups on the table and some scuff marks on the floor, but other than that everything seemed in its place. Iruka peaked around the half wall of the kitchen to make eye contact with Kakashi as he said, "Don't worry, they're gone."

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as he stepped out of his room to go sit with Iruka at the table. "I heard a lot of noise."

"Well, we were talking and the subject got a little uncomfortable for me, so I put Izumo in the hot seat," Iruka said smugly as he took a sip of his tea.

What subject could make Iruka uncomfortable? He couldn't ask that, though, so he said, "What did you say?"

"I asked him about him and Ko. You know, they've had this huge crush on each other for a long time, but I don't think either one's realized it. At least, I didn't until last week when we were drunk Izumo mentioned liking someone and not having his feelings returned. So… even if that isn't what he meant, I asked him about it. Kotetsu dragged him out. Then they had to come back to get their shoes, and Izumo didn't want to leave so Ko dragged him out again."

Kakashi chuckled before he said, "You have some very enthusiastic friends, Sensei."

The corner of Iruka's mouth quirked up in amusement. "So says the guy who claims Gai-sensei as his best friend and eternal rival."

"_I_ said no such thing," Kakashi defended. "Even if he is my best friend,_ I_ never said it!"

Iruka chuckled. "Maybe you should, if it'll get him to stop following you around and challenging you all the time. You know… validate his feelings or something."

"Maa, Sensei, do you want him to kill me with his enthusiasm?" Kakashi asked with mock horror in his voice. Then he dropped the humor and said, "He and I do have calm talks sometimes, and he really is a good friend. It's just when we're in public he puts on that other persona as a defense mechanism to keep people away, like most Jounin."

"Hmm, I hadn't thought of that," Iruka said. "It would certainly explain Anko's brashness and Genma's sexual harassment."

"Yep." Then, because he couldn't keep his curiosity in check… "So… what was the topic that you didn't want to discuss with the others?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, I'd received some injuries last week before we went drinking that made me go to the hospital to get some stitches. You know how pre-Genin are – throw a Kunai anywhere regardless of who's on the receiving end. I also got one of Genma's senbon in the butt, which made me go to the hospital to get it unstuck…"

"Maa, when you say you had a bad day, you really mean it!" Kakashi interrupted. Iruka huffed out a laugh and continued speaking.

"Well, yeah. The day I passed Naruto out of the Academy I got a giant shuriken to the back. Because of that I have some spinal and nerve issues, and they were worried that I had started limping because of the couch. They were just trying to figure out why you bought me a bed."

"That was uncomfortable for you?" Kakashi asked, incredulous. "Are you embarrassed that I bought you a bed?"

"What?" Iruka asked, confusion clear on his face. "No, I just didn't think you wanted your reputation ruined. You use it as a shield, so I figured you wouldn't want them to know. And they were bringing up some ideas that were hard to respond to, so before they went there I changed the subject."

"What a topic to change it to!" Kakashi said with a smile.

Iruka's cheeks tinted pink as he said, "Well, I didn't expect such a _violent_ reaction."

"So… what now?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, now I get to wash the dishes. Between dinner and tea I really let them stack up," Iruka said. He stood up and finished off his drink before grabbing Izumo's and Kotetsu's abandoned mugs and heading into the kitchen.

"Actually, Sensei, what I was thinking about was the bed. Was it really so disruptive that I gave it to you?" Kakashi asked, following Iruka with the leftover plates covered in cookie crumbs.

Iruka started the water and watched it flow into the sink. Was it really disruptive? It could be, if everyone heard about it, which was possible with how big of a blabbermouth Kotetsu tended to be. Would it really matter if everyone found out, though? After a moment Iruka started rinsing off the dishes as he said, "You know, you bought a guy who has nothing a bed and a dresser. You gave him some spare clothes and a dry place to sleep. If anyone gives me any guff, I'll tell them that."

"How about this, then: why don't you move in with me?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka glanced at him over his shoulder. "Kakashi-sensei, I already have."

"No, I didn't mean like this. You're just here until you can get your own place, but I was thinking it would be pretty nice to have you around afterwards."

"Aren't you jumping a little too far ahead?" Iruka asked. "I've only lived here a week, and the Chunin exams can take up to two months. That's a bit of a commitment."

Kakashi shrugged. "I guess it is," he admitted. "I just think it nice having a roommate, and you deserve your own room."

Iruka shot a look at Kakashi over his shoulder. "Were you really that lonely that you like having me here?" he asked.

"Well, you do stuff, too, like cleaning and cooking. You're also intelligent, and we've had some nice conversations. I'd like to keep you around," Kakashi said mildly with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Iruka glanced over at Kakashi again for a moment before he turned his attention back to the dishes before him. "Let's not make any permanent decisions until we need to make them, okay? That way we won't be stuck if things fell apart."

"Do you think things will fall apart?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know. It's too soon to tell," Iruka said through tight lips.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Oh, holy crap! He couldn't be hearing this right – Kakashi wanted him to move in. Forever. Get a place together. He admitted he was lonely. He liked that Iruka cleaned and cooked, and he even liked talking with Iruka.

He liked Iruka. Romantically.

Iruka almost swooned into the sink when he realized Kakashi's feelings for him.

What was he supposed to do now?

* * *

Author's Note: Hey everyone. I wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews you've sent me so far! I love hearing your thoughts, and the more detailed ones help me to know how people recieve my writing :D And a special thank-you to the guest who explained the episode with the water towers to me. It really helped clarify what happened at that time in the story. Thank you!


	10. Chapter 10

10 – dix is pronounced deece, like deece eez thee seeeliest accent evah (which makes a lot more sense if you say it out loud)

* * *

Iruka found himself wandering around after his workout on Sunday morning. He'd had a good workout doing his extensive routine, which he hadn't done the week before because Kakashi had been watching. He'd been able to wake up early enough throughout the week to avoid his roommate and continue with his normal training regime, but Sundays always gave him time to really work out and train thoroughly.

However, because of the discovery he'd made the day before, his mind hadn't been entirely on his training. Part of him had been back at the apartment wondering when Kakashi had developed his feelings, and how Iruka had been able to figure them out. Normally, Kakashi was a hard book to read. Even with the conversations Iruka had partaken with Kakashi, he still had trouble figuring out what Kakashi might be thinking. That horrible fake smile, although easy enough to read as fake, was hard to see past.

So, after he felt himself good and tired from working on his family's special jutsu, Iruka found he was too restless to go back to the apartment. So, he'd started walking the pathways between the training grounds. It gave him time to cool down some before he did his final stretches, and it afforded him the time to let his mind wander.

How did he feel about Kakashi? How much did Kakashi like him?

How much did Iruka like Kakashi?

The Jounin wasn't really all that bad. He was a good conversationalist and was generous. Sure he teased Iruka mercilessly, but that had all been before he'd moved in with him. Maybe he had changed?

Yeah, and a person with an Air affinity could easily cast Earth jutsu.

Iruka felt the air move around him, jostling him out of his thoughts. He looked to where it had come from and saw nothing. When he turned back to go to Kakashi's, he saw a man with a bowl cut, green spandex suit, and orange leg warmers.

"How Goes It O Youthful Sensei?!" the green beast said.

"I'm fine, Gai. How are you?" Iruka asked politely as he started walking.

"I Am Wonderful! It Is The Springtime Of My Youth And…"

"You know, Gai-sensei, Kakashi told me that you can talk like a normal person if you want. If I promise not to tell anyone, could you _please_ stop talking in capital letters?" Iruka begged as he reached Gai's posed form in the path.

Gai, for his part, dropped his arms to his side and shrugged. "I guess if Kakashi-kun trusts you, then I can trust you as well," he said.

The two men fell into step as Iruka continued on his journey back to the apartment. "So, to what do I owe the honor this visit, Gai-sensei?" Iruka asked pleasantly. "You haven't visited me since I assigned your team to you."

"I wanted to see how you and Kakashi are getting along," Gai said frankly, his eyes never leaving the path before him.

"Are you worried that I'll kill him?" Iruka suggested in a lighthearted tone.

"I'm worried that he will kill you," Gai admitted without looking up. "He's… scarred."

Iruka shot Gai a sideways look before covering it with a smile. "I know he's got a few issues, but he did buy me a bed. He offered to let me move in with him after the Chunin exam. If he didn't want me around, I doubt he would have done any of that."

Gai finally turned to look Iruka in the eye. The black-eyed gaze pinned Iruka to his spot, forcing him to a halt. "I don't doubt that he wants you around," Gai said seriously. "I spoke with him this morning, and he told me about his offer to you about the apartment. He seems very attached to you, which is particularly strange since he hasn't been attached to anyone since the Fourth Hokage died. Then, since it's only been a week…"

"You wonder if I'm a good or bad influence over your friend." Iruka finished for the taijutsu master.

"Oh, Iruka-Sensei, I Know You Are A Marvelous Influence Over My Eternal Friend And Rival!" Gai said, pulling up a sunset and a pose before he seemed to catch himself and dropped the act. "Erm… what I meant to say is that I'm not worried about Kakashi, since you're a good man and I believe that you will be a good influence on Kakashi-kun. I'm worried that you'll be okay.

"Kakashi likes you, but I don't think he knows how much he likes you yet. He feels emotions very intensely, and because of his Shinobi training at such a young age he never learned to manage his feelings without quashing them completely. You couple that with the fact that all of his loved ones have died or betrayed the village, and you can see that he's just an emotional child."

Really? Kakashi didn't seem that stunted to Iruka. But it was something to consider. "I'll keep that in mind, Gai-sensei."

Gai's gaze never wavered away from Iruka's eyes. "Knowing all that bears the question; how do you feel about Kakashi?"

Iruka sighed and looked away. "I was just trying to figure that out."

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi walked on a path through the training grounds. He'd gone to Gai's house for breakfast, but some of the things that Gai said had kind of hurt.

Of course he was sure this wasn't some rebound off of Obito! Obito had died how many decades ago?! It was a little late for a rebound, huh?

But then, he hadn't considered that maybe he wasn't really ready for a romantic relationship. He hadn't even tried since Obito's death. Sex was one thing, but love was hard. The people he liked never liked him back. Sure, Obito had wanted to _be_ Kakashi, but he'd made it perfectly clear before their big blow-up fight that he didn't want to _be with_ Kakashi.

Then he'd gone into ANBU, and it had taken years for him to regain enough of his humanity to fail teams of students. Now, after years of training Naruto and the others – and losing Sasuke – was he human enough to try for a boyfriend?

Was he human enough for someone as down-to-earth and caring as Iruka?

And was Gai right? Had he had a crush on Iruka for a while? Shouldn't he have known what his feelings were if he was feeling them? People didn't bother other people the way he bothered Iruka at the Mission Desk. Normal people didn't turn in such horrible reports and tease brown-haired Chunin if they liked them. Did they?

Well, little boys did. Kakashi wouldn't dare call himself mature.

That was when he heard Gai's voice, but it wasn't Gai's voice as he heard it in public. It was soft and deep – serious. Who was he talking to like that? The only person he ever calmed down enough to talk to was Kakashi, so whatever he was saying must be important. Slowly, Kakashi moved forward and cloaked his chakra, just in case he was needed.

As he moved into a tree he spotted Iruka and Gai standing on one of the paths facing each other. Gai was looking Iruka in the eye as he asked, "…bears the question; how do you feel about Kakashi?"

What? What was he talking about?

Then Iruka said, "I was just trying to figure that out."

Little man say what?

"You mean you know about Kakashi's feelings?" Gai asked.

Iruka huffed out a humorless laugh and said, "I wouldn't be trying to figure out _my_ feelings if I didn't suspect that he liked me."

Kakashi's feelings?! How could Iruka know about Kakashi's feelings if even Kakashi didn't know how he really felt?

"Do you like him?" Gai asked. "Do you think you could?"

"I'm not sure," Iruka said. "I can't say that I know him very well yet. I've only been talking with him for a week."

"But… do you think you could?" Gai insisted. Then the older man blinked. "You're gay, right?"

Both Iruka and Kakashi jerked in surprise. "Erm… I've never been with a guy before, if that's what you're asking," Iruka said, his tone one of mild confusion.

Gai seemed to relax at that and the man let out a wry chuckle. "No, Iruka-sensei, that's not what I meant," he said. "I was wondering if you were attracted to men."

"Oh." Iruka seemed to think about it for a long time before he said, "I haven't really been attracted to men before, just a few specific women in my past. I've been thinking about it all morning, but I don't think I'd be opposed to falling in love with a man."

"That Is Wonderful News, Beloved Young Sens…" Gai caught the irritated glare Iruka was shooting at him and said, "Sorry. I just got excited that you could love Kakashi-kun back. He could do well with someone as open-minded and conscientious as you are, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka looked a little surprised at Gai's assessment. "Thank you, Gai-sensei. I'm honored you think so highly of me." Then Iruka bowed, just as Kakashi had expected him to.

"The truth is always worth saying," Gai said modestly. "I now feel that, should you decide to copulate with Kakashi-kun…"

"What?!" Iruka screeched in shock. Kakashi jerked again in surprise.

"…then I will not stand in your way!" Gai finished as if he hadn't heard the teacher's protest. His tone didn't change into capital letters, but it was very close to going in that direction. Kakashi thought that Iruka realized that as well, because the teacher started to beat a hasty retreat.

"Thank you for the talk, Gai-sensei. It was nice to see you and I have a lot to think about. I think I'm going to head back to Kakashi's place and… do some laundry or something." With that Iruka shot another bow at the Green Beast of Konoha and took off toward the village at a remarkably fast walk. Kakashi wasn't entirely sure he could keep up with that pace at a jog.

But then Gai turned his black eyes on Kakashi, and the silver-haired Jounin knew that he'd been spotted – a while ago if he was any judge. He jumped down from his tree branch and landed easily in front of his best friend. "Yo."

"So now you know how he feels," Gai said. Then he shot Kakashi a thumbs up sign and grinned wide enough to show _all_ of his sparkling teeth. "Good Luck My Eternal Rival, For I Wish I Were As Lucky As You To Find A Man Willing To Put Up With All Of My Shit!"

Kakashi blinked a few times before he turned his back on his best friend. "For that interference, I won't accept any more challenges from you for a week."

He heard the thud of Gai's jaw hitting the ground as he casually walked away.

* * *

Autor's Note: Sorry this chapter is short. I started out several chapters ahead of my posting schedule and now have managed to catch up. I am in the middle of the seventh week of my very first MBA course, and if I play my cards right I won't have any homework next week! Then I can concentrate on writing when I get off of work instead of homework, homework, homework. Maybe I can even get ahead again! So, thank you for your patience :D


	11. Chapter 11

11 - onze. Like: I ownz no Naruto. Wish I did, because then I'd be a millionaire! This is also where my knowledge of French numerical spellings goes a little awry. I remember how to pronounce them, though :D

* * *

Monday sucked.

Sure, it was the first week of summer vacation – YAY – but it was the first big storm of the season as well. And, of course, Iruka went out to train in it. Yet again his mind wandered, although not as badly as the previous day.

Kakashi had been very distant when he'd finally made it back to the apartment after Iruka's training. His roomie had been out when he got back, so he went ahead and made some lunch – Yakisoba – which Kakashi hadn't been there to eat. Kakashi had come back, mumbled something akin to a quick greeting, and then hid out in his room for the rest of the day.

It left Iruka feeling confused and a little let down. Had he done something to make Kakashi angry? He'd cleaned the house on Saturday – a _much_ easier task this time – and had made his special Noodle Delight for dinner with Kotetsu and Izumo. Kakashi had seemed happy if a little shaken when they had gone their separate ways for bed.

But why had Iruka felt let down? He had been at a loose end, sure, but that was no reason to feel like he'd been ditched on Sunday. It only proved that he had become used to Kakashi's company in such a short time.

Gosh, he'd only been living there for just a little over a week and he was already battling to keep from calling the apartment "home." No point calling it such an affectionate term if he wasn't going to stay.

After training today, he was soaked more than usual – and, yes, he blamed the god-damned rain for that! So he sloshed home and took a shower. Yay, more water! Then he dried himself and blow-dried his hair just in time to find a leak in the ceiling with his head. So he put a bucket under the leak – that's why Kakashi had all those buckets – and washed and dried his hair again.

That was when he went around the apartment and found all the leaks and put buckets under them. Conveniently there was just the right number of buckets to place underneath them. Funny how that worked out. More proof that Kakashi was a little… different.

Then Iruka sat down at the foot of his bed and started looking for the television remote. It was a good five minutes of searching before he realized that Kakashi didn't have a TV in the living room. He'd been so busy the previous week that he hadn't even noticed the couch had only faced a chair and the front door. The only TV was in Kakashi's room, but unless he was cleaning Iruka didn't go in there.

But that was okay. There probably wasn't anything worth watching on today, anyway.

So that was when Iruka made lunch and started reading one of Kakashi's non-Icha Icha novels. Oddly enough, it was a sappy romance story between two men. There wasn't any sex in the part he had managed to get through, but an amazing plot that kept him turning pages quickly.

That was when Iruka started wondering what Kakashi looked like under his clothes. And he started banging his head down on the table in front of him.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi watched Naruto avoid another attack from Sakura. And another. And another. Then he got hit, and he flew into a tree.

"Damn it, Naruto! What's gotten into you today?!" Sakura demanded as she stomped over to where Naruto had landed. The poor boy was slowly righting himself into a sitting position, but he looked so dejected as he watched Sakura approach that Kakashi almost intervened out of pity.

"I don't know what's wrong, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "I guess I'm just not feeling very good today."

That snapped Sakura out of Angry Teammate Mode and into Kind Healer Mode. Kakashi found it amusing to see her hard eyes soften before she asked, "Where does it hurt?"

"My body doesn't really hurt," Naruto said. His voice sounded thick, almost as if he were sad. "I just… I'm not up for training today."

Kakashi gave Naruto a hard look through the misty rain. The boy's eyes were downturned and cast to the side. His arms were held in front of his chest as if he were trying to either subconsciously protect himself or hold himself in. But, most importantly, Naruto's eyes had lost their bright light. They looked dull and almost dead.

"I think we've done enough damage to the training field for one day," Kakashi said in a light voice as he looked around at the broken trees around him. "I know I'd like to go home and eat a nice, home-cooked meal that my roommate has lovingly prepared just for me. See you kids at the bridge tomorrow morning at seven."

With a disbelieving grumble from Sakura the students moved to leave. Sakura was practically a flash of pink light as she bolted home. Sai left at a more leisurely pace, but Naruto took his time to stand up.

"Hey, Naruto," Kakashi started as casually as he could, his hands stuffed in his pockets comfortably. "What's really going on?" With Naruto there was no need to be subtle. The boy wouldn't get it.

Naruto sighed and refused to look Kakashi in the eye. "I suppose I aught to tell you," he mumbled. "It's just… the last time I took the Chunin Exam I only made it through because I lucked out. I mean, I couldn't figure out any of the answers on Ibiki-san's test, and I didn't know how to cheat. Sakura barely managed to save me and Sasuke during that one fight, and Sasuke…"

"He manipulated you," Kakashi supplied easily.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed in a grave voice. "If it wasn't for Jiraiya training me for that month and teaching me about the Kyuubi's chakra, I wouldn't have been able to beat anyone in the final exam."

Kakashi had to fight the impulse to flinch when Naruto mentioned the legendary pervert sage. It rankled that he, Kakashi, had paid so much attention to Sasuke and ignored the truly wonderful Shinobi in Naruto. With a start he realized that the words Iruka had said to him just a week ago had wound their way into his head, making him embarrassed of the choice he'd made years ago.

"You got through the preliminary fight with Kiba-kun by using solid strategy," Kakashi found himself saying. "You have also grown in strength and skill dramatically since then, and you have a natural instinct for any test about teamwork that Ibiki is likely to throw at you. I'm sure that you'll make it through again."

"You do?" Naruto asked as he looked up at Kakashi with hopeful cerulean eyes.

Kakashi couldn't help it; he smiled and nodded. "I do. I know that despite the challenges, you will fight your way through the best way you know how. After all, you are a great ninja and it's your nin-do – your ninja way."

All of a sudden Kakashi couldn't breathe. He looked down and saw a blond head plastered to his solar plexus with muscular arms wrapped tightly around his chest. It took Kakashi a moment to realize that he was on the receiving end of a Naruto hug – more like a death grip of gratitude. With a silent chuckle – it was hard to make noise with no breath – he affectionately patted Naruto on the head.

Naruto loosened his arms and looked up at Kakashi. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei! I'll do my best to make you proud!"

Kakashi patted Naruto's head again and moved out of the excitable boy's grasp. "Maa… I'm sure you will, Naruto. Iruka-sensei taught you well, as did Jiraiya.

"Oh, by the way Kakashi-sensei, how is Iruka-sensei doing now that he's at your place?" Naruto asked with a snicker.

Kakashi sighed and turned to leave. Not more of this crap from one of his own students! "He's fine," he said as he stuck his hands back into his pockets.

The previous day after he overheard the conversation between Gai and Iruka, Kakashi had gone to the memorial stone to have a very unproductive conversation with Obito's spirit. On the way there and back he kept getting stopped by Shinobi and villagers alike who were asking him how Iruka was managing after the fire. At first he'd been annoyed that these people, who had never found the courage to approach him before, were suddenly stopping him in the middle of the busy street to ask him about his personal life. They'd never cared before.

Then he figured it out: he was rooming with the village Darling. They couldn't ask Iruka about his welfare because the Chunin would only say he was fine and then thank them for their concern. Suddenly, taking care of Iruka had made Kakashi _approachable._ Even with his Icha Icha out where everybody could see.

So, for the first time, he opened up to his student just a teeny tiny bit. "Iruka's doing well," he said. Naruto had caught up to him and was keeping pace beside him, so he just looked down to make eye contact with his pupil. "Would you like to come to my place for a few minutes to see for yourself?"

Naruto's face brightened. "You mean I get to see your place?" he asked excitedly. "Oh, boy! Just let me go home and change! I'll meet you at…"

By that point Naruto had run too far away to be heard, but Kakashi was following him at a more sedate pace. He'd head toward Naruto's apartment and get there just as the boy was leaving. Then he'd calmly lead Naruto back to his and Iruka's apartment.

But first, he should at least inform Iruka that they were going to have some company

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka looked up as he heard a poof and saw a cloud of smoke. In the middle of the mess – damn transportation jutsu smoke was a bitch to clean up – he saw a Kakashi clone smiling at him just like the original.

"I just wanted to say that I'm bringing Naruto by to see you," the clone announced. "He's never been to the apartment, so he's very excited. We should be there in… oh…" the clone made a point to look at the clock in the very taunting way the real Kakashi would have had he been there. "I suppose we'll be there in about ten minutes." Then, with another poof the clone disappeared.

Iruka sat frozen at the dinner table for a moment before he slammed the book down on its surface and shot out of his seat. With a flash of hand signs fast enough to make Kakashi envious he summoned two clones and set them to cleaning the residue of Kakashi's teleportation jutsu. Then he summoned another one to clean his bed and a third to tidy up the bathroom. Then he began rushing around the kitchen and started pulling out the ingredients to make a batch of soft buttery cookies.

By the time Kakashi and Naruto arrived twelve minutes later – Kakashi called out "I'm home" like a good roommate – the house was practically sparkling with cleanliness and the first batch of cookies was waiting for the oven to reach full temperature. Iruka looked up from where he was dropping dough onto a second baking sheet with a spoon to say, "Welcome home," when the two Shinobi walked in.

"Wow, Kakashi-sensei, I didn't expect your apartment to be so… normal," Naruto said as he stepped inside, his head swiveling every which way to take in everything. "I expected it to be, I don't know, like a dojo or something with kata hanging from the walls and weapons lined up in the bathroom or something."

"Naruto, take your shoes off," Iruka reminded his ex-student as he came around the half wall of the kitchen. "Kakashi had a couch, but he bought me a bed so he had to put it in storage. Otherwise, his apartment is completely normal. It's just a bigger version than mine was."

Naruto quickly hopped back into the entryway and stripped off his shoes. Then he tackled Iruka – who fortunately was prepared for the attack and managed to brace himself with a foot strategically placed behind him. The two men wobbled for a moment before Iruka managed to pull them back on balance.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Iruka-sensei. I was really worried about you!" Naruto said into Iruka's chest.

"You know, Naruto, you could have visited me at the Mission Desk," Iruka said with a laugh. Kakashi couldn't help but notice how big and real Iruka's smile was. The Chunin was truly happy to see Naruto and to receive a "hug" from him. It amazed Kakashi that Iruka could breathe.

"Yeah, but everyone in the village was going there to see you," Naruto said as he pulled away from Iruka's embrace. "I wanted to talk to you, too. You don't have to stay with Kaka-baka if you don't want to. You can stay with me."

"Thank you for the offer, Naruto, but I'm doing pretty well here," Iruka said, although Kakashi suspected that he wanted to stay with Naruto even less than he'd wanted to stay with his two friends. Naruto's small studio apartment was still a complete disaster.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't sexually harassing you or anything, is he?" Naruto asked as he gave Kakashi, who was passing them on his way to the kitchen to see what Iruka was making, the stink-eye. Kakashi paused to raise an eyebrow at Naruto before he continued on his way, only to stop again when he spotted the novel that was still lying haphazardly on the table. He turned a surprised eye on Iruka, who returned the look with a shrug. Naruto, fortunately, had turned back toward Iruka and was talking a mile a minute, so he missed the entire exchange.

The cookies Iruka made were soft and flakey, and they melted in Kakashi's mouth when he sipped his tea. The conversation between Naruto and Iruka was mostly one-sided (Naruto's side, of course). Then, after Iruka had finished his cup of tea he expertly and seamlessly booted Naruto out of the apartment. When he returned from the doorway he almost walked right into Kakashi, who was standing just inside the living room holding the novel Iruka had been reading.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Kakashi asked teasingly, waving the book in front of Iruka's face.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei, I was going to inform you that I've borrowed that book. I'm a little surprised to find a gay romance book in your collection," Iruka said as he pushed past Kakashi in order to start cleaning up the napkins off of which they'd been eating cookies. "Are you mad that I started reading it without asking you first?

"Not really," Kakashi admitted. "I am a little surprised that this is the one you chose to read. I have a whole bunch of straight books I thought you'd be more interested in. The adventure section is right next to your bed."

"Well, that was the book I randomly pulled off the shelf," Iruka admitted. He walked up to Kakashi and plucked the book from his fingers and started riffling through it without really looking at the pages. "I'll admit that I'm not really into romance novels, but this one just sort of hooked me from the first page. I've never read a gay novel before, either."

"I'm glad you like it," Kakashi said as he watched Iruka wander off toward his bed and sit down at the edge of it. "I didn't take you for a homo."

"Oh, Kakashi, please don't say it like that," Iruka said as he dropped the book to his lap. "I'm assuming that because you own this book that you swing that way at least a little bit?"

Kakashi took a deep, steadying breath before he nodded in affirmation. There – he admitted it.

"You like girls, too, right?"

Another sharp head nod. No secrets. He couldn't stand the idea of lying to the academy teacher. It just didn't seem right.

Iruka looked down at the book in his lap and sighed. "I've never really been attracted to any girls, but I haven't really been attracted to any men, either. I've dated a few women in the past, but it was mostly because they liked me and I wanted to have somebody. As I'm reading this – and it's a really good story – I'm starting to wonder if maybe I may swing that way."

Kakashi felt his jaw drop. "Iruka-sensei, that's a very personal piece of information. Are you sure you want to tell me that?"

Iruka seemed to sigh as he looked Kakashi in the eye. "I figure that since you're my roommate you aught to know, just in case I go crazy or something and bring a guy home."

Kakashi mirrored the small smile on Iruka's lips and saw the twinkle of humor appear in his eye as he said, "Maa... I doubt you'll bring any random strangers home. It's not like you to do that, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka shrugged as he stood up from the bed and practically sauntered toward Kakashi. "Oh, I don't know. The last time I got drunk I wound up shacked up with a male Shinobi. Next time… who knows?"

* * *

Author's Note: I have a very random question to ask you guys: have you ever accidentally posted a chapter to the wrong story, or posted a chapter twice by accident? I did the latter option once, but I was looking at my other stories and just thought how bad that might be. So, have you?


	12. Chapter 12

12 – Douze

* * *

Kakashi wanted Iruka up, and Iruka knew it. Pots were banging, pans were falling, and water had boiled over. Iruka covered his head with his pillow and tried to drown out the noise.

"Iruka-sensei, I know you're awake," Kakashi said from the kitchen.

"I know," Iruka groaned. "It's my day off, so I'm not getting up!"

"Well, that's stupid," Kakashi said as he set a pan on the stove; for real this time, Iruka hoped.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Iruka said as he rolled over.

"It's just that I'm making breakfast today, so you should get up and get ready or else you'll miss it." Kakashi said.

Iruka rolled back over so he could look at Kakashi, who was turned away from Iruka and toward the stove. "You're saying that you're making me breakfast?" he asked.

"Yep,"

Iruka tossed his blankets aside and nearly ran into the bathroom.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka stared down at the glop on the plate in front of him and stifled a snicker. It looked awful. It was an omelet. It didn't look like an omelet, but he had been told that's what it was when Kakashi plopped it down in front of him.

For what it's worth, it didn't taste bad. It was a little bland, but it wasn't bad. The way Kakashi's eye crinkled showed that _he_ didn't like it very much. It was just too funny to think that Iruka, the cook of the duo, was fine with the simple meal but Kakashi, the great eater of food, didn't like it.

"I don't know what you're so grumpy about," Iruka said around a mouthful of egg. "It isn't bad."

"It's not good," Kakashi said. His food was gone, or else Iruka wouldn't be looking up at him during the meal. "Kurenai said that this was a good recipe."

Iruka looked down at his plate, surprised. "This was a Kurenai recipe?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said with an irritated tone.

"You must have forgotten the spices or something," said as he took another bite. "Normally I can't eat her food because it's too spicy."

"Well, I did leave out the jalapenos," Kakashi said. "And the chilies and the peppers. I think I left out the cayenne and chili powders, and the garlic…."

"You could have left the garlic," Iruka said. "Usually I leave in the actual peppers and stuff in, but I only use a quarter of the spices, but leave the garlic. Garlic is good."

Kakashi blinked at Iruka. "You and Kurenai exchange recipes?" Kakashi asked.

"Not anymore," Iruka mumbled. "Most of her recipes are awful. I'm impressed Asuma managed to stomach them."

"Well, Asuma can't taste," Kakashi said. "He smoked too much. But you're evading the question; how is it that you know Kurenai well enough to exchange recipes with her?"

"Erm… she always turns in her mission reports on time," he said, but it was clear Kakashi was still waiting for the full answer. "And she's a nice lady who likes to chat." Kakashi was still waiting. "And she and I were teammates for a while a long time ago when she was still a Chunin, and I had to cook for her as she recovered from injuries she received on a mission. After that I kind of taught her how to cook…"

"Oh… so it's all your fault!" Kakashi said as he banged his hand on the table.

"I can't help it if she's so insensitive that fire won't burn her!" Iruka said defensively. "She can't taste different spices, so she makes her food hot enough that she can feel it."

"Wait… you're telling me that _Kurenai_ can't taste?" Kakashi asked, completely in awe.

"She was injured on her tongue during our last mission as teammates," Iruka said slowly to his plate. For some reason he wouldn't look at Kakashi. "There was some permanent damage to the surface, but not enough to slur her speech once it healed. It's just that with so few taste buds…"

Kakashi watched Iruka. The lowered head – the lack of eye contact – meant something. "Iruka-sensei, was it your fault that Kurenai can no longer taste?"

Iruka's head snapped up and his eye's met Kakashi's. Then he looked away again. "It saved her life," he said. "I'm lucky it didn't do any more damage."

"What didn't do more damage?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka opened his mouth as if to answer, but when he looked at Kakashi he seemed to freeze. Then it was like he changed what he was about to say. "You know, I don't think I'm supposed to tell anyone. It's kind of embarrassing to Kurenai."

Despite the fact it was an obvious lie, Kakashi accepted the answer. He'd just go to Kurenai later and ask her for the details.

They lapsed into silence. Then Kakashi asked a question to change the subject. "So, what part of the Chunin Exam are you proctoring?"

Iruka smiled as he took his and Kakashi's plates to the sink. "I thought I told you," he said as he put them down on the counter. Surprisingly, he just left them there and went over to sit on his bed. Kakashi followed and made himself comfortable next to his roommate.

"You may have told me," Kakashi said, "but I don't remember."

"What?!" Iruka asked in mock surprise. "Sharingan no Kakashi actually _forgot_ something!"

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, you sound a little shocked. Is it so possible that I cannot ever forget everything?"

Iruka smiled mischievously at Kakashi. "Well, considering the rumors and the legends about you, I'm surprised you don't remember what you ate for breakfast on today's date twenty-two years ago. The legends and folklore about you build you up to be something very… impossible."

"Oh, so now I'm impossible?" Kakashi asked. He leaned forward into Iruka's personal bubble. Surprisingly, Iruka leaned forward, too.

"Of course you're impossible, Kakashi-sensei. You tease me constantly, annoy the shit out of me, and you turn in terrible mission reports. If that's not impossible, I don't know what is!"

Kakashi noticed that his and Iruka's lips were very close together – only about three centimeters apart. So he darted his head forward and placed a quick, chaste kiss on Iruka's lips before he bounced off of the bed. "Maa… Sensei, I haven't teased you since you got here!"

Iruka seemed frozen for a long minute, but then he seemed to shake himself out of whatever trance he was in and said, "What do you call all that banging when you're awake before me? No Shinobi is _that _much of a klutz. Even Rock Lee never had _those_ kinds of problems in my class.

"I was just trying to wake you up so I could make you breakfast. If there's a better way to do that then just tell me what it is!" Kakashi said. His lips tingled, even though they hadn't touched Iruka's directly. None of his one night stands had ever made him tingle. Iruka was definitely special.

Iruka cocked his head to the side and squinted his eyes a little. He seemed to be concerned about something. "You don't know how to wake someone up gently?" Iruka asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "Nobody's spent the night in a long time. It wasn't a skill I ever needed to learn."

"Even on missions?" Iruka asked.

"I usually take first watch," Kakashi replied. If he took first watch, he never needed to wake people up except for the next person on watch, and they usually woke when he walked near them because of their Mission Sensitivity. Everyone would sleep lightly while on missions – except for Naruto, but it usually worked out that Sakura or another teammate would have to wake him up.

But Iruka knew all that, having been on his own missions in the past. He seemed to nod his understanding before he said, "Then all you have to do is call my name from a little ways away. If that doesn't work, then you can gently – and I mean _gently_, Kakashi – shake my shoulder. I usually wake up pretty quickly when you do that."

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Oh…. My…. God! Kakashi had just kissed Iruka. He'd just been _kissed_ by Kakashi. Iruka had been _kissed_ by a guy! He'd been kissed by _Kakashi_ wearing a _mask_. His heart was pounding as Kakashi continued their conversation as if he hadn't just shattered Iruka's world. Iruka did his best to participate, but half of him was thinking, "Come on, kiss me again. I want to make sure that's what really happened."

Then Kakashi demanded to know how to wake Iruka up without being annoying. He wanted to shout, "KISS ME, BECAUSE IT'LL BE A SWEET WAY TO WAKE UP!" Instead he'd told him to call his name or to shake him. What irritatingly normal responses!

After they finished their little conversation, Iruka had gotten dressed and gone to train. Poor trees… they didn't see what was coming. Halfway through the most dangerous jutsu Iruka knew – the Frozen Hurricane Jutsu – an ANBU appeared at his side right in the path of the little hurricane of icy water and mud. Iruka bent the hurricane around the ANBU, just barely missing the Leaf Shinobi, before he managed to cancel the spell.

"I'm sorry…H… H…" Oh, SHIT! It was Hound, the most legendary of all ANBU. And he was crouched down in front of Iruka as if he hadn't just been about to be pelted with frozen earth and ice.

"I am fine," came the deep voice from behind the white mask. "The Hokage requires your presence."

"Yes," Iruka said. With speed so fast that Iruka only saw a blur, Hound grabbed Iruka and transported them to the Hokage tower.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Lady Tsunade was sitting behind her desk sneaking a cup of sake when Hound brought Iruka in. When Iruka opened his eyes to see his new surroundings, he saw her taking a long drag from her cup and he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Same antics as usual. And as usual, Shizune wasn't around to see it.

"Lady Tsunade, you summoned me?" Iruka asked.

Just then there was a wet cough. Iruka jumped in surprise and turned to see Morino Ibiki wrapped up in a blanket with his bald head covered in a woolen hat. "Damn, Ibiki-san, you must be boiling in that," Iruka said.

Ibiki grunted, but he seemed to shiver. Tsunade said, "He has the flu, so he won't be proctoring the first test tomorrow. He worked despite his fever, and now he's going to be admitted to the hospital as soon as I'm done here. The idiot's going to get some bed rest if we have to sedate him to do it."

Iruka stifled a chuckle. Ibiki looked very put out at the whole thing.

"So, Iruka-sensei, I've decided that you're going to proctor the first test instead," Tsunade announced casually before taking another swig of her sake.

Iruka was floored. "What?" he asked. "What would make you think I could proctor _that_ test? I'm not psychedelic enough to get people to rat out their own team members or give up in order to save their team or whatever trick he's got planned for the Genin this year."

"I'm not that convoluted," Ibiki croaked before launching into a horrible-sounding coughing fit.

"You're a crafty devil, and your record is a long one," Tsunade said as she pulled a file off the stack on her desk and opened it for Iruka to see. Iruka's twelve-year-old face looked back at him happily. The Chunin stared back in open-mouthed shock. Beneath the picture was a list of every prank he ever pulled. Gingerly he reached out and flipped a couple pages. Everything he'd ever been caught doing was written there in black ink.

"I doubt you were caught every time, Iruka-kun," Tsunade said with a smile, "because the pranks mysteriously stopped when you were thirteen, but the kind of havoc you used to wreak continued until you became an academy teacher. _This_ file," she pulled out another, much thicker, file from the stack, "contains all of the pranks that you were suspected for, but nobody could prove it was you."

Iruka looked through the second file. It was surprising how many things he'd managed to get away with. Except… "I didn't do that one," he said, pointing to the last item on the list. "Kotetsu did it after I planned it because he didn't want it to go to waste."

"See, Iruka-kun? You're pretty clever. The only reason you were ever suspected for these pranks was because of your history before it. The only person who suspected was the Third Hokage, and he only kept a record on you was so the Fourth and I could know what you're truly capable of. Speaking of which, I want you here in my office on Monday for your Jounin Interview."

"I… what?" Iruka asked, completely winded. Not only was he suddenly proctoring the first exam instead of the third, but he was also scheduled for an interview for a promotion? How the hell had that happened?

"Now, you are dismissed so that I can get this idiot…" she pointed her thumb over at Ibiki "… into the hospital." When Iruka didn't move immediately to follow Hound to the door she shouted, "SCRAM BRAT!"

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Hound dropped Iruka off at Kakashi's door and then promptly disappeared. Everyone in town watched Iruka follow the famous Hound, who hadn't been seen in years, through the village. Hound never said a word, but his presence was a comfort to Iruka as his mind churned through the events of the last ten minutes. When he let himself in he found that Kakashi wasn't there. He was probably out training Naruto and the others as he should have been doing instead of making Iruka breakfast that morning.

Iruka sat and thought for a long time, but the uncomfortable nature of his thoughts made him antsy. He went out and trained a little bit longer, but he wasn't able to focus on his jutsu at all, so he went back to the apartment and finished that book he'd started the day before. There was a sex scene; just one and it was tastefully orchestrated. Then he cleaned the apartment and found another book to read. By the time Kakashi made it home, he managed to come up with a plan for the next day.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi was nervous as he entered his apartment. Iruka had had all day to think about what Tsunade had told him. Normally they talked during dinner. Mostly it was about random things, but usually they started off talking about their days. So, he figured he'd be finding out how much Iruka told him about his day.

The meal started off normally. Iruka mentioned cleaning the house early, which was odd because Iruka seemed the type to assign a certain day of the week for chores. He also finished the book he'd been caught reading the day before and started reading another – a heterosexual mystery, much to Kakashi's disappointment. He'd gone to training – which Kakashi remembered seeing as he was Hound and had interrupted a very impressive water/air/earth jutsu that he'd never before seen – and then _Hound_ had arrived to summon him to the Hokage.

That's where the story got interesting. Iruka didn't really seem to have any interest in Hound other than to say that he was there, which was a little saddening to Kakashi. He'd hoped that his dangerous alter-ego had impressed Iruka, but aside from the initial shock Iruka mostly focused on what Tsunade had to say. But… considering the shocks Iruka received, Kakashi supposed he could accept that Hound would drop dramatically on the list of things that were exciting in Iruka's day.

"So, you're proctoring the first test?" Kakashi asked. He hoped he sounded impressed. He'd been worrying all day about how Iruka had taken the news.

"Yeah, and at first I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it, since Ibiki-san's made such a high standard for the test." Kakashi noticed that although Iruka had been pretty informal in the Hokage's office, he was using very respectful language toward the torture specialist and Hokage now. "But, I think I know what I'm going to do."

Kakashi waited, but Iruka didn't elaborate. So he asked, "Maa, Iruka-sensei, what are you going to do?"

Iruka just smiled. "I'm going to be an ass!"


	13. Chapter 13

13 – Treize; not to be confused with Terese, which is the French version of the name Theresa/Teresa

* * *

Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office and looked around. All of the Konoha teachers whose students were taking the first part of the Chunin exam were gathered around Tsunade's desk. The Hokage crystal globe was on its cloth on the desk and people were leaning forward in order to see it.

"Did it start yet?" Kakashi asked, confused.

"Ah, Brat, you're finally here… on time?" Tsunade said from her place behind the desk.

Kakashi shrugged. "I wandered over."

"Well, it seems that Iruka has taught most of the Konoha Genin taking the exam at one time or another," Tsunade said. "They've formed a sort of group around him and he's chatting with them a little with some superficial bull. The Mist and Sand ninjas are looking pretty pissed, but Iruka hasn't really done anything yet. He's about to…"

Kakashi had walked up to the desk and leaned forward to see into the crystal ball. Sure enough Iruka was in the middle of a gaggle of Genin, Naruto and Sakura being the closest to him. The picture in the ball was a little distant, taking in the whole room on its five-inch surface, and the rounded edges put the walls of the room a little out of focus. Iruka quickly moved out of his little group and made his way to the front of the room where he called everyone to order.

"Okay, everyone, find your seat. Each desk has a nametag. Please sit at the desk with your name on it," the academy teacher said to the room with ease. There was some brief shuffling as everyone made their way to their seats before Iruka said, "I'm going to pass out the test. You have one hour to finish it. No cheating, kids, or I'm keeping you after class to do lines…. Wait, you're not my Pre-Genin class." Several people in the room chuckled, mostly Konoha Genin. "If I or one of the ninja around the room catches you cheating you will be removed from the room and you will automatically fail the Exam."

Kakashi could spot the people taking the Chunin exam for the first time because of the looks of shock on their faces. Naruto looked a little peeved, so Kakashi assumed that the blond had forgotten that particular rule from last time. What a knucklehead!

He watched as Iruka passed out the single sheet of paper that was to be the "test." Iruka looked normal, like he hadn't been nervous all the previous evening and throwing up from nerves that morning. As it turns out the teacher was at home in a classroom. Who'd have thought?

"Begin," Iruka shouted, and the great writing and cheating commenced.

Some of the attempts at cheating were very, _very_ obvious. Iruka called the perpetrators up to the desk, took their tests, and sent them out. Then he caught a few others and sent them out. It was a pretty steady stream of test takers that Iruka spotted cheating. The Chunin around the edge weren't catching any more cheaters than Iruka.

Through it all, Iruka was calm. He sat behind the desk watching the students take the test. His expression didn't even change when he failed students, and that was the part Iruka had been stressing about the most. It was particularly odd to see, especially when Kakashi remembered that Iruka _always_ showed emotion. He was happy around Naruto, grouchily affectionate with the Shinobi in the Mission Room, and angry and pleased at turns with his students. It was one of Kakashi's biggest criticisms about Iruka, but here the Chunin was completely emotionless. Empty.

Then it struck Kakashi – Iruka _trusted_ Konoha. When he was home doing his jobs or shopping or hanging out with his friends, he left his defenses down. He was surrounded by ninja he knew – ninja he'd _trained!_ He was comfortable enough with the Jounin to occasionally blow up at them when their reports were sub-par and safe enough to know that, aside from a few pranks and maybe a couple of rumors started in spite, there would be no serious retribution because of it. Then again, Iruka was always surrounded by the walls, the Chunin guards, and the best Jounin in the village. He _was_ safe.

Well, Iruka had been safe… until he said, "All right, time's up. Now, you all fail."

What the hell was Iruka playing at?

Iruka was met with dead silence for a good long time. Even the teachers watching from the Hokage's office froze and watched with baited breath. Then there was uproar.

"WHAT?!"

"What do you mean we all failed?"

"Who do you think you are to fail us?"

"What the F…"

"Okay, kids, calm down! Calm down! We can discuss this," Iruka said, using his Placating Teacher Voice. Slowly the Genin started to quiet down and settle back into their seats, although the looks of murder on their faces were still there. Once they were quiet Iruka opened his hands in an inviting gesture and said, "Okay, convince me that you're worthy of becoming a Chunin."

The Genin seemed to look around before Naruto jumped up and said, "Iruka-sensei…"

"Naruto!" Iruka snapped and Naruto jumped back in his seat and raised his hand like the well-trained student he was. "Yes, Naruto, what would you like to say?"

"Iruka-sensei, you can't just fail us like that for no reason! I mean, you failed me on my Genin exam, but I was really bad at my shadow-clone jutsu back then. You had a reason. But Sakura, Sai, and I have been working super hard with Kakashi-sensei, you can't just fail us! I mean, Sakura-chan's almost a doctor now, so she needs to have the rank so she can get better hours at the hospital and work in the administration and give other people orders! Give her a chance!"

Kakashi beamed at the little ball on Tsunade's desk with pride. Of course Naruto would be the first one to speak on his teammates' behalf, even if he really was only defending Sakura. Iruka, however, didn't even blink. His eyes just roamed the classroom full of test-takers until another hand went up.

"Iruka-sensei," Hinata Hyuuga said tentatively. "Kiba-kun has really improved on his techniques with Akamaru since last time, and he's much better at teamwork with humans. Shino-kun is also better at manipulating his insects and controlling his temper when Akamaru pees on his anthills."

The boy with bright red tattoos on his face – the one that fought Naruto during the elimination round last time, Kakashi recalled – slammed his hands down on his desk and stood up as he shouted, "And Hinata-chan beat up that bastard Neji-sama once during their sparring, so since he's a Chunin now she should be, too!"

Iruka's face never changed expression and his voice was as cold as ice when he said, "Kiba-kun, sit down and raise your hand when you wish to speak. I taught you better manners than that." The boy's face turned red as he sat down angrily.

"Um… Iruka-san?" a boy from Mist asked tentatively as he raised his hand. "I have improved a lot over the last two years since I became a Genin. I used to be really bad at my stealth moves – I always seemed to find a branch to step on, even if we weren't in a place with trees. Now I'd say that I'm stealthy enough to set any trap in any terrain, even if nobody falls for the trap!"

Iruka nodded sternly at the boy and nodded to a girl from Sand whose hand was raised. "I've been following the teachings of my Sensei. She's really helping me to improve on my technique. My teammates won't tell you, but she's been helping them to learn some self-control. Pakka-kun still tries to kill Tam-kun, but his temper's getting better. Temari-sensei says that we really remind her of her brothers."

One by one Iruka acknowledged the students and they told Iruka how they and sometimes their teammates improved. Iruka's expression never changed, no matter how close Tsunade zoomed in on his face. Kakashi, with all of his experience, had never seen anyone but Ibiki manage to face so many personal tales of trials past and passed without even an eye twitch to give away their thoughts. Eventually every student had spoken. Sakura told Iruka to please give them a chance because Naruto's been like a crazy man obsessed with this test and Sai had been trying to be nice and help them train. Even Sai said, "Dickless isn't so bad. He's been working hard for this."

After every person had said their piece Iruka stood up from where he'd perched on the front desk and started calling out names. Kakashi didn't recognize any of the names that Iruka called, but he did recognize a few of the people who stood as Konoha Genin. After a tense pause Iruka said, "I'm sorry, but I am failing you. Before you leave, I feel you deserve to know why

"You whose names I've called only think of yourselves. When it was your turn to speak you made no mention of your teammates or your teachers or anyone who helped you to make it where you are. This is a trip that no Shinobi makes by themselves, and when you are on missions you are never truly alone. Even on solo missions Ninja have gone before you to lead missions, gather intelligence, or put together the plan you are to follow. Your life is in their hands, just as their lives are in your hands. If you don't understand that, then you do not deserve the honor of leading them. Once you learn this lesson, please feel free to take this Chunin exam again."

With a gesture the other Chunin in the room started guiding the failed students out. After a moment of stunned silence Iruka broke his stern façade and smiled at the Genin still in the room. "That means that the rest of you passed the test. Please toss your tests in the trash can on your way out."

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi stood in the entryway of the apartment as Iruka came through the door. Iruka just looked at him and sighed tiredly before he leaned down and took his shoes off. "So, how did I do?" he asked.

When Iruka stood up Kakashi was right there slouching forward so they were almost nose-to-nose. Before Iruka could unfreeze from his surprise, Kakashi leaned forward and placed his cloth-covered lips above Iruka's in a kiss.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry everyone for the late update. I try to update a chapter every Thursday, but last week I got really busy; so busy, in fact, that I didn't write a single word for fun or for homework. Fortunately, this week I managed to catch up. Hope you enjoy!


	14. Chapter 14

14 – Quatorse

* * *

When Kakashi leaned in and kissed Iruka, Iruka felt his spine stiffen. He leaned back, but Kakashi's head followed him. When Kakashi finally ended the kiss and pulled back, Iruka kept his wide eyes on the older Shinobi.

"You don't need to be so freaked out," Kakashi said with a smile in his eye. "I only kissed you because I like you."

Iruka swallowed his nervousness before he said, "Funny, you like Naruto but he's never told me about you kissing him."

"…. Ew."

Iruka couldn't help it; the unadulterated disgust on Kakashi's face at the idea of kissing Naruto made him chuckle. Then he started to laugh. Then he couldn't breathe because he was cracking up so bad. Kakashi just stood on the step in the entryway staring at Iruka as if the Chunin had grown an extra head. The laughter sounded a bit hysterical to the Jounin's ears.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but you just looked like Sakura did when Ino told her to kiss Naruto one time when they were still in the Academy. If he hadn't been pushed into Sasuke once, I doubt the poor boy would ever have received a first kiss."

"That's a little harsh, Iruka," Kakashi said.

Hearing his name without an honorific attached to it snapped Iruka out of his giggle fit. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-_sensei_, but Naruto does keep up such high defenses with his loud voice and obnoxious behaviors that most people aren't willing to look at the desperately lonely boy underneath. Surprisingly, he reminds me of you," Iruka all but snapped.

"Of me?" Kakashi asked. His voice was sharp, almost as if he were angry.

"Yes," Iruka replied. "Naruto reminds me of you because you keep your defenses up so high that no one can see the real you. You want people to see 'underneath the underneath' but you never give them a glimpse of any kind of underneath."

Kakashi seemed to be frozen in place at Iruka's harsh words and snippy tone. The Jounin was standing up straight with his arms hanging rigidly at his sides. Anger gleamed from his one visible eye, and Iruka knew that he'd see evidence of a clenched jaw under the mask if he bothered to move forward for a closer look. So he softened his voice and relaxed his spine when he said, "That's why I was so surprised you let me stay here, and that's why I felt so honored when you told me you like men. The fact that you let me see underneath the underneath showed that you trusted me more than anyone else, and it made me feel special."

Kakashi seemed to relax a little at that. "Maa, Iruka, you lead me to the question: do you like me back?"

Iruka hesitated. Honesty was the best policy, even if it could hurt his roommate's feelings. "I'm not really sure how I feel, Kakashi-sensei. I've been thinking about it for the last several days, and I'm not any closer to solving that problem than I was when you asked me to move in with you permanently."

Kakashi blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked in confusion.

Iruka couldn't help but stare at Kakashi unblinkingly for a few moments. "Isn't that when you first started liking me? I thought that's what prompted you to ask me to move in with you."

If Kakashi's mouth hadn't been held shut by his mask he was pretty sure that his jaw would have hit the floor. "How the HELL could you have known that if I didn't even figure it out until the next day!"

Iruka moved around Kakashi into the kitchen awkwardly. How could he answer that awfully awkward question? "It just… made sense," he said without looking at Kakashi. He started rummaging around in the pantry cupboards looking for the sake. When he found the bottle he pulled two cups out of the cupboard and brought them to the table. "Have a drink?" he offered.

Kakashi made his way over to the table and sat down in his usual spot. Iruka sat across from him, pouring the alcohol generously into the juice glasses. Kakashi wondered if Iruka had done that intentionally because he wanted to get drunk of if he simply hadn't noticed. Kakashi doubted it was the latter.

When Iruka handed Kakashi his drink Kakashi sipped it slowly, watching as Iruka downed the whole glass like he was slamming down a beer. Then the academy teacher poured another and downed it, too. Then, when he filled it for a third time, Iruka just held it between his hands as it sat on the table, staring at it contemplatively. "Although… I'm wondering why you like me," Iruka said almost as if it wasn't really a question.

"I like you because…" Crap! What was he going to say? "I like you because every time I talk to you I see more of what's underneath _your_ underneath, and what I see intrigues me."

"That's good, Kakashi-sensei, but what happens when you've uncovered all my layers?" Iruka asked without looking Kakashi in the eye. "Will you still be interested then?"

Kakashi frowned at his roommate. "Where is this coming from?" he asked. "We have interesting conversations and you have a lot to bring to a relationship. Interesting things happen to you and interesting things happen to me, so I doubt that we'll run out of things to talk about – especially if you and I read similar literature."

"I'm not going to read Icha Icha," Iruka said to his glass of sake.

"I'm not talking about that," Kakashi appeased.

"Because I read the first three novels out of curiosity," Iruka explained as if Kakashi hadn't said anything. "They were pretty poorly written and I don't think the smut was very… possible. I'll give Jiraiya points on creativity, but plausibility gives him negative points, so I'd rather not read it. That's why it's just trash."

"Iruka, would you please quit avoiding the issue?" Kakashi asked, lost in the direction the conversation had turned to. "I'd like to start dating you and kissing you, but we'll never be able to do that if you keep talking about Icha Icha."

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I didn't mean to lose track of the conversation. I just… drank too much too quickly and I'm feeling a bit buzzed." Iruka shook his head quickly and seemed to sway a little. "Okay, maybe I'm a little more than buzzed. What was it you wanted to ask me?"

"I was just saying that I don't think I'll find you boring once I get to know you because you're a good conversationalist. You're also very intelligent, despite your propensity toward guzzling alcohol when you're having a bad day.

"Yeah… I need to stop doing this," Iruka said as he rested his forehead in his hand. "Last time I lost my apartment. This time, I may lose my bed."

"Well, you're always welcome in mine," Kakashi flirted. When Iruka's glassy eyes met Kakashi's, the Jounin wondered how much of this was going to be remembered the next day. "I can't help it if I find you attractive."

"I find you attractive, too," Iruka admitted as he pushed his glass of sake away. "It's a little odd reading the first gay sex scene in my life and I'm putting you in place of the hero and me in place of the other hero, so please understand I'm not just having issues with the idea of dating a man not known for being reliable to anyone but Konoha Village – which from what I hear you're completely _unreliable_ except when you're on a mission and your teammates need you – I'm also dealing with the fact that until last week I thought I was straight."

"You did?" Kakashi asked, completely amused with the thought that maybe he could get a drunken Iruka to spill all of this juiciest thoughts and secrets.

"Well…" Iruka mumbled, looking away from Kakashi's amused eye. "I may have admitted to myself on a few drunken occasions that I may be bi-curious, but since I'd never been attracted to a man before I never had to examine those feelings."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Kakashi muttered more to himself than Iruka.

"I'm also not too comfortable with the idea of someone's penis up my ass," Iruka said. It was almost as if he were thinking out loud to himself, the way he was mumbling into his hand and avoiding eye contact with Kakashi. "It sounds really painful."

Kakashi couldn't argue with that. After all, it did hurt the first few times, especially if it wasn't done properly.

"And then how can I trust someone who doesn't even trust me enough to show me his face," Iruka mumbled to himself. "It's not that it's any of my business, yet if I see it since we're only roommates and he doesn't have a reason to trust me with that, but if he's hiding his face because of some form of low self-esteem or self-hatred then he's got more issues than I may be willing to deal with. But on the other hand if he's just hiding it to keep the mystery alive and the rumor mill going then he shouldn't have a problem revealing his face when we're at home. But then again, it may be somewhere in between where he doesn't feel secure showing it to me for some random reason like he looks like his father or something, and he's afraid of my rejection…"

Wow… Iruka sure put a lot of thought into that kind of thing! Kakashi wondered absently if these were the thoughts that had been running around Iruka's head for the past three and a half days – it was Wednesday and the day wasn't even over yet since it was still just early evening/late afternoon. If this was just a sampling of Iruka's thoughts, then it was safe to say that Iruka had some serious concerns about their future together.

"Iruka," Kakashi broke in to Iruka's ramblings. "I understand you have some serious concerns about my suitability as a mate." Iruka nodded agreement. "First things first: what kind of relationship are you looking for?"

Iruka seemed to pause for a moment. "I wasn't looking for one," he said. "I'd given up. Girls don't like nice guys like me."

_What do you mean that girls don't like nice guys like you, Iruka?_ Kakashi thought. _Chicks dig reliable guys. It's just easy guys like me give guys like you a bad name._ "Well, what kind of relationship would you want if you were looking?" Kakashi amended.

"Oh…" the academy teacher seemed to think on this a moment, so Kakashi sipped some more sake through his mask. "I guess I want a close relationship like my parents had" Iruka finally said. "Where I come home every day and my lover is there and says hi, gives me a kiss, and asks me about my day. We'd have dinner and talk, and we'd cuddle in bed after sex or even if we didn't have any sex…"

"So, Iruka, you want a relationship where sex is a perk?" Kakashi asked.

Iruka blushed red, causing a tender smile to appear on Kakashi's hidden lips. "Yeah, I guess I want an emotional relationship more than a carnal one, although I do expect sex to be an important part of the relationship once we get there."

Kakashi thought about that for a long minute while Iruka appeared to stare off into space. He'd only ever had carnal relationships, mostly in the form of one-night-stands or through the purchasing of a whore's time. But wasn't that part of the allure of Iruka? The teacher was interesting to talk to and he felt tender toward the other man. How had he envied his dogs that first night they'd been summoned for dinner and they'd cuddled Iruka on the couch without him? Wasn't that part of his sudden need to be part of the cuddle-fest? He and Iruka didn't have a sexual relationship even though Kakashi wouldn't mind starting one up. He also wouldn't mind waiting until Iruka was ready.

"I think I'd like to have that kind of intimate relationship with you," he said to Iruka, snapping the other man out of his daydream.

"Kakashi, you're way too defensive for that," Iruka said. The Chunin had gotten drunk quickly, but he seemed to be sobering up just as fast. He was still pretty dazed, but his thoughts seemed to be coming out more coherently.

Kakashi nodded in agreement of what Iruka had said. "But then, the kind of relationship you're looking for takes a lot of time to build, doesn't it?" Kakashi asked. Iruka nodded, so Kakashi said, "Then we'll take baby steps."

Kakashi stood up and walked around the table so that he was standing next to Iruka. He kneeled down so that they were both at eye level, and ever so slowly Kakashi started to pull his mask down. Before his nose was fully revealed, though, Iruka put his hand over Kakashi's and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? Because I _will_ remember this tomorrow."

Kakashi smiled. "That's why I'm not moving my Hitai-ate from over my Sharingan."

Iruka nodded and dropped his hand back to the table. Kakashi finished pulling the mask down so that it hung around his neck and stared at Iruka as the other man seemed to drink in his face with his eyes.

Iruka stared at the strong jawline in front of him and the masculine mouth that hovered over a nice chin. Kakashi's nose was straight and long, but not too long or too straight. He looked masculine, but not butch. He also bore a shocking resemblance to his father, the White Fang. If Iruka hadn't looked at the White Fang's file once when he'd first been assigned to the Mission Room, he wouldn't have known it at all.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're a very handsome man," Iruka finally said.

The smile that tilted Kakashi's mouth upwards completely lit up the Jounin's face. He leaned in slowly until his soft lips fitted themselves comfortably over Iruka's. Without thinking, Iruka felt himself kissing the Jounin back.

When they parted Iruka had to clear his throat. "Okay, I'll give this a try," he said.

Kakashi nodded. "That's all I ask."


	15. Chapter 15

15 – Quinze (pronounced like "cans.")

* * *

Iruka glanced around the neighborhood and sighed. The apartment was here somewhere, but it was in the middle of a veritable maze of streets and apartment buildings. He was in the Jounin section of town looking for one apartment that originally he'd thought he'd find easily. Considering the way Gai liked green, he'd figured the whole building would be painted a garish shade of the color.

As it was, he glanced at the slip of paper in his hand and looked up at the street signs. He'd used his power in the Mission Room to gain access to Gai's file – illegally, unfortunately – so that he could look up the man's address. Hanging around the training fields had been a bad idea, and he'd wasted too many days doing that before he found out that the Jounin and his team had been assigned a mission. So, he'd waited for them to get back.

He'd managed to catch Gai in the mission room turning his report in where he asked if he could speak to Gai privately sometime. Gai – being Gai – had made a great speech about youth and vitality before loudly accepting Iruka's offer and promptly leaving the building at a run. Had it been anyone else, Iruka would have thought that the other man had not wanted to meet him. Then Ten-Ten had come up to him and said that Gai had accepted his invitation before she had left as well after turning in their report. So… Iruka felt a little bit justified in illegally looking up Gai's address. He hadn't looked at any of the other things in Gai's file that he wasn't supposed to.

Ah… that was it! He looked at the address on the building in front of him and it matched the numbers he'd written on his paper. The building wasn't green at all! It was just the normal brown of a wooden building. Well, darn it then. He started up the stairs to the third floor landing and knocked on the door. A few moments later a dark-haired man in a comfortable greenish-blue button-down shirt and washed-out jeans came to the door. Some of his black hair was sticking up in the back, as if he'd been lying back and had just risen when he'd heard Iruka's knock.

"Wow, Gai-sensei, I didn't recognize you without your green jumpsuit," Iruka said with a smile.

Gai returned the smile – no sparkle in his teeth – and stepped back to let Iruka in. "I don't want to be that high-maintenance at home, Iruka-sensei. I'd never have the energy to pull it off in public if I did all that shit in private, too."

Gai's apartment was nice and had the same layout as Kakashi's, although the decorations were very different. Kakashi's furnishings had been minimal, but they all seemed to match. Gai's apartment, on the other hand, was stuffed with furniture and mementos. It was clean, but with so much stuff it felt stuffed. The shoe area, though, was very tidy with only Gai's two pairs of ninja sandals. Iruka's sandals joined the others and he went to sit where Gai pointed on the couch.

Gai, for his part, turned off the big television and sat opposite Iruka on the couch. "So, what about Kakashi brings you to my doorstep?" the older man asked as he leaned easily against his armrest. He picked up a cup and started sipping it before he held it out and said, "Would you like some tea?"

Iruka shook his head. In this setting, Gai really did look the thirty years his file had said he was. "I just wanted to let you know that Kakashi and I are officially dating, and he's being totally weird," Iruka said. "I was wondering if you knew of any way I could calm him down? He's been a nervous wreck since the day after we made it official that we're trying each other out."

Gai groaned into his tea cup and rubbed his hair with his free hand. "That's why he's freaking out," Gai said. "He's afraid you're going to reject him."

"Why would I do that?" Iruka asked. "We just started dating, and we haven't even been on a date yet."

"Well, I'm his best friend," Gai said as he flashed his signature sparkly smile. "Everyone else won't put up with his shit."

_Wow, Gai, say it like it is, why don't you?_ Iruka thought. "Okay," he said aloud. "But what do you suggest I do to get him to calm the fuck down? He's psyched himself out so much that he's been avoiding me."

"How Has His Great Youthfulness…. Sorry," Gai said, catching himself as he started to talk in his usual enthusiastic manner. "How has Kakashi-san been avoiding you? It doesn't really sound like him."

"Well…" Iruka scratched the back of his head, thinking. "He's been getting some D-ranked missions for his team this week, but considering their skill levels they shouldn't be taking quite so long to complete. Then, when he comes home, he takes a shower, eats dinner without talking or looking at me, and then he rushes off to bed after we've finished washing up. I was starting to get a little worried, but I decided I needed a little help when Pakkun noticed the other night and seemed worried."

"That pug does seem to understand his human very well," Gai said. "Did Kakashi-san talk to you at all during your dinners?"

Iruka sighed. "He responded in simple sentences when he had to, and I think he keeps blushing. It's so strange, since he's the one who talked me into this!"

"You didn't want to date him?" Gai asked over the rim of his tea mug.

"I wasn't sure," Iruka admitted. "I'd be surer if he wasn't acting like a Nervous Nelly whenever I'm around. It's just that for a guy who seemed so certain that this is what he wanted, his behavior is making me wonder if he really meant what he said or if he was really trying to convince himself of it."

"What do you think?" Gai asked.

Iruka shrugged. "I have no idea. I haven't dated anyone seriously since I was a Genin, and even then it wasn't that big a thing. Then Kakashi-sensei's a little off from everyone else, so I'm not sure what I can do to calm him down."

Gai nodded. "Kakashi-san is eccentric," he said. "I don't think he's ever been on a date, so if you give him a little guidance in what you think a dating relationship would be like he'll follow along like a good little puppy. Anything you do with him or for him I'm sure he'll appreciate."

Iruka mulled that over for a few minutes before he said, "I suppose I can give that a try. It's a direction at least."

"Good, I'm glad I was able to help," Gai said as he stood.

Iruka stood, too, and headed for the door. "Thank you, Gai-sensei. Oh, and here you go…" Iruka pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Gai. "I figured that you were probably recuperating from the mission you handed in yesterday. I know all about it because I checked it and filed it for you, so I got you some of the Hokage's Super Healing Chakra Regenerating Powder. Just add the packet in the envelope to a glass of sake and drink up. You'll feel better immediately."

Gai seemed to stare at the gift Iruka gave him for a long minute before a yellow twinkle came to his eye and he said in a subdued version of his normally exuberant jubilation, "I Will Take This Divine Elixir Given By Our Great Hokage! I Could Never Truly Express My Thanks O Wondrous And Youthful Iruka-Sensei!"

"Okay, okay, that's fine. Thank you for your advice, Gai-sensei. Feel better."

With that Iruka pulled the door closed behind him before Gai could try to pull some more of his usual Great Youthful Bullshit.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Iruka stepped in the front door of Kakashi's apartment and froze. There were rose petals covering the floor of the entryway. Looking up, Iruka noticed the petals completely covered the wooden floor of the living room, too. He took off his shoes mechanically and gingerly stepped into the apartment. A few petals squished under his feet, which was a very odd feeling. But everything was covered in the pale pink petals, even the counter! Even his bed!

"Kakashi-sensei?" he called, not sure what he was seeing.

The bedroom door opened and Kakashi came out of his room wearing a nice grey long-sleeved top and some good dark jeans. Briefly Iruka wondered if he'd ever seen Kakashi out of his Jounin uniform, but when Kakashi slouched against the wall all thought were blown from Iruka's mind.

He could see _all_ of Kakashi's muscles when he leaned like that. Well, he couldn't see them per se, but he could see how thin Kakashi's waist was, and broad-shouldered with a curvature to his torso that spoke of an eight pack. His silhouette was simply… beautiful.

"Is something wrong, Iruka?" Kakashi asked, effectively snapping Iruka's attention back up to his face. It was nice to see Iruka's reaction to his street clothes, but now he knew how women felt when he stared at their breasts instead of their eyes. It wasn't as pleasant as he'd thought it would be.

"You're… um…" Iruka started, looking frazzled. "W-what happened to your apartment?"

"Oh, this?" Kakashi asked, scuffing a toe against the ground and scattering a few petals. "The Yamanakas told me that flower petals were a romantic way to set the mood."

Iruka stared around the room. Hundreds of roses must have sacrificed their petals to cover this much surface area. Kakashi seemed to know what Iruka was thinking because he said, "If they hadn't had an order cancellation then I wouldn't have tried this. I don't think the oils I've smashed into the floor when I walked on them are going to come out of the wood very easily."

The Chunin shook his head and huffed a sigh, but that brought an odd fragrance to his nose. "Kakashi, are you burning a scented candle?" he asked.

Kakashi pointed over his shoulder and used the hand sign for "look" that Shinobi used when out in the field for completely silent communication. Iruka looked over his right shoulder and saw about twenty or thirty candles ablaze on the dining table. Fortunately there were no petals on the table, not that Iruka could really tell because so much of the surface was covered in light blue and purple candles and candle holders of varying sizes.

"Kurenai said that candles were romantic, too," Kakashi said by way of explanation. "She also said to choose a seductive scent, but the shop a few blocks down only had 'Ocean Spray' and 'Lilly' scents as options, so I decided that they will have to do."

"Do you think that those are seductive scents?" Iruka asked as Kakashi moved to stand behind him.

They stood watching the blaze atop the table contemplatively for a minute before Kakashi said, "I think I'll pull them out again this winter when it gets cold. This will work pretty well to save the gas bill because I don't have a fireplace anywhere in the apartment." He paused for a second and then added, "And I might put one in the bathroom to light when one of us takes a shit. Kurenai also mentioned that candles help cover those kinds of smells."

"They have a candle in the restroom at the Academy," Iruka said, turning toward his roommate only to discover that the other man was so close behind him that his nose almost touched the Jounin's chin. He backed up a step so he could look up into Kakashi's eyes as he said, "So I guess it works at getting rid of smells, but these scents are making my nose itch."

With a flash of hand seals, a gust of wind blew through the apartment and extinguished the candles. Iruka breathed a sigh of relief before he sneezed.

"Here," Kakashi said as he reached over the little ledge separating the kitchen from where they stood. He brought out a steaming cup of tea and handed it to Iruka. "I figured that if the other things didn't work, we could sit on my bed and watch a movie. I'm told watching a movie with a hot beverage and a savory snack is an acceptable first date."

Iruka couldn't help it: he started to chuckle. "Did you do all of this…" he waved his arm to indicate the apartment and the mess it was in "… so that I'd be okay with the idea of lying in your bed with you to watch a movie?"

"Well," Kakashi said contemplatively as Iruka took his cup of hot tea. "I did originally plan to bring the TV set out here to watch it, but when I realized that we'd still be lying in a bed, I figured that I'd volunteer to be the owner of the bed that would be spilled upon."

Iruka felt himself giggle under his breath as he headed toward the back of the apartment. "I appreciate the effort you put into this," he said over his shoulder. "So… what are we going to watch?"

Kakashi picked up the second cup of tea and a bowl of popcorn as he started following Iruka toward his bedroom. "Well, I think that action comedies are pretty sexy, so I figured we'd watch one where the good guy goes and kills the bad guy, but the bad guy keeps coming back and getting his ass handed to him. Of course, if you don't like that we could watch a rom com. Or porn. I think porn is pretty romantic."

Iruka felt himself laughing as the bedroom door closed behind him and Kakashi. He found that all of the awkwardness had disappeared and he was looking forward to this date. He needn't have bothered Gai-sensei at all!


	16. Chapter 16

16 – Seize (like says) – Wow… sixteen chapters… Who knew?

* * *

Iruka was floating in the warm, comfortable darkness of sleep. For the first time since… a long time ago… sometime… he was relaxed, and he didn't want to wake up. He was waking up, though. He could tell he was lying on his side. Then it was like a pillow was suddenly there, even though he had been feeling it under his head just a moment before. Suddenly, he felt an arm lying on his waist, and then blankets over his legs. Then, finally, he felt the bed he was lying on as he settled from sleep, and he felt his body laid out behind him. He supposed that he was now officially awake.

Lazily, he turned onto his back and scratched his itchy nose. Last night had been pleasant. He and Kakashi had watched that stupid anime Dragon Ball-Z. After the first episode of that ridiculous show, Kakashi had deemed it necessary to turn the show into a drinking game. Every time a character on the show had cried "Dragon Balls!" – which was quite frequent – they took a drink of sake. Iruka had gotten quite pleasantly drunk. Of course, they only watched a grand total of about four episodes, and they hadn't started the game until the second one.

But then they'd started talking. Since Iruka had moved in, they'd had some very pleasant conversations as well as some that weren't so nice. However, he hadn't realized the difference between those conversations and the one he and Kakashi had shared the night before. Those other conversations weren't very deep, really. From the outside, one would think an in-depth look into the inner workings of Naruto was a deep conversation, but it didn't delve into the darkness of either of their psyches.

And, shit, Kakashi was a _fucked up_ man.

Based on the conversations, Iruka figured that Kakashi had been in ANBU during his teenage years. The other man never said it, but with the tone of some of his stories and the history Iruka already knew, Kakashi had been a terrifying assassin who made quite a name for himself. An ANBU designation never made it into the regular file room since those missions came strictly from the Hokage, so he had to guess about that. He also figured that Kakashi hadn't been active as an ANBU agent since around the time he took on Team 7.

His thought had been confirmed when Kakashi had said, "I was about ready to kill myself, so the Third Hokage took me off my regular duty and forced me on a paid vacation. He also mandated me to see my therapist twice a week…" all Shinobi were assigned a personal therapist to see whenever they needed one, but it was sort of a taboo thing to see one without an order "… and he started saying that it was a good idea to take on a team of three to see what children were like these days."

Iruka had laughed, but he got the feeling that Kakashi had cloaked the true darkness of that statement in a lighthearted tone. But, needless to say, that was several years ago. Kakashi had also said Iruka was the first person he'd ever wanted a real relationship with. And it scared him.

Kakashi had never had a real relationship. He'd had no childhood, had survived his father's suicide had found his father's body, and had become a killing machine in his teens. He was a pro at mission sex and one night stands, but his sole experience in dating let alone anything close to a relationship – of any kind – came from Icha Icha and a little influence from Naruto. Iruka had been in a couple little relationships in the past, and he had immortalized the relationships of his parents, but he was by no means an expert at relationships. Hell, he didn't even know if he would be a good boyfriend. He hadn't really been a good one in the past.

But then, he hadn't really liked those girls in any special way. They were there, and he found them a bit attractive, but they just didn't hold his interest for very long. They'd go on for a lot longer than they should have before the girl wised up and broke it off, usually after cheating on him. Honestly, he couldn't have blamed them, even at the time. The last girl he dated just before Naruto entered his class was the best – and shortest – relationship he'd ever had because he ballzed up and broke up with her before things could get messy.

Still… could he do this? He'd had fun the previous night. Hell, he'd had fun for the whole two weeks he'd lived with Kakashi.

A light tap on the door alerted Iruka to someone outside the apartment. Kakashi was out – completely and totally dead to the world – so he silently slipped from the bed and closed the bedroom door. As he moved past his bed, he grabbed his robe and put it on, just managing to tie the sash before he opened the front door.

An ANBU stood in the entryway with his white mask on prominent display. She held out a scroll that Iruka took and read. "Just let me write my roommate a quick note. I'll meet you right here in five minutes."

The ANBU nodded as the front door closed with Iruka inside. True to his word, Iruka was back outside in five minutes dressed with his hair tied up and ready to go. He locked the door behind him as he left the apartment.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi woke with a strange empty feeling in his arms. He was clutching a warm pillow that smelled like Iruka, but the wayward Chunin wasn't there. The Jounin slowly got up and rubbed his face, looking around in confusion. Why was his bedroom door closed? It had been open when he'd finally managed to get to sleep.

Iruka had just passed out, clearly tired from his long day and the alcohol, but Kakashi hadn't found rest so easily. He'd lain awake for several hours watching Iruka sleep, amazed that the other man could just knock out like that. Even when he was alone in his apartment with his nin-ken around it took forever for him to find sleep.

He wasn't surprised to see that Iruka wasn't in bed. The Chunin had a habit of rising early, but he expected the door to be open with breakfast-like smells coming from the kitchen, as was Iruka's habit when he woke early. But… the door was closed.

Opening the door, he looked around the living room and noticed Iruka wasn't in the apartment. There was, however, a note on the raised edge of the counter that they had been using as a sort of apartment mailbox between roommates. The note read: "_Got called in by the Hokage. Don't forget to go to the third part of the Chunin Exam this afternoon. If you're on time, you'll probably see me there."_

Iruka got called in? _Kakashi_ would see _Iruka_ there? But would Iruka see him? Something fishy was going on…

So he got dressed and was out the door in time to be early for the final test of the Chunin Exam.

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Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading. I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated this. Life got a bit ahead of me and, what with all the papers I had to write for school I lost my motivation. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Yes, short chapter, I know, but it moved the story to where it needs to be for the next chapter, which I promise will be longer and quite exciting. Thank you so much, and please drop me a line to let me know what you think :D


	17. Chapter 17

17 – dix-sept – I like that. Literally seventeen is translated to "ten-seven." Makes sense to me!

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Kakashi walked down the steps and found a seat in the coliseum. Nerves mingled with his excitement as he took his seat. His nerves had to do with the fact Iruka's note did not bode well, and neither did the fact he hadn't found any of Iruka's ninja gear anywhere in the apartment.

Excitement came from the fact this was the twenty-fifth year. Every twenty-fifth year something different was done during the Chunin exam to commemorate another twenty-five years of the ninja way. Twenty-five years ago it had been a free-for-all where the candidates had been put in groups consisting of Genin from each of the five ninja villages. Then they were paired with other teams until one team had won. It had been very difficult for the Genin as there had been a lot more tension between the hidden villages at the time.

It made him wonder what would happen this time, although he had the feeling Iruka would be involved somehow. Otherwise, why would Iruka's gear be missing? And why was Kakashi's presence in the audience requested? He hadn't seen Iruka in the crowd.

Eventually Tsunade stood from her private box and the crowd of Shinobi and civilians quieted. "Welcome," she said in a booming voice that had been amplified by chakra, "to the first Chunin exam of the year." Kakashi had to giggle – she'd probably forgotten what year it was, let alone how many Chunin Exams there had ever been. "Seeing as this is a twenty-five year anniversary, we have something special planned. Iruka, come onto the battlefield, please."

Kakashi looked down at the floor in the middle of the coliseum and saw Iruka calmly walk out of the shadows and into the center of the bare arena. "Umino-Iruka-san is a Chunin of Konohagakure, and he will be the proctor for this part of the exam. However, this will not be the traditional exam. Instead, the Genin who can capture Umino-san without being captured him or herself will win the match. The match will either be won when Umino-san is caught, or all of the Genin are caught. Genin, please form a line facing Umino-san."

Eight children between twelve and sixteen years of age, including Naruto and Sakura, moseyed out and formed a staggering line facing Iruka. For his part, Iruka showed no emotion. He just calmly looked all of the Genin over for a long moment. Then, when he opened his mouth he said, "This isn't a line. We aren't starting this test until your line is straight."

The Genin looked between each other, but the students from Konoha – all of whom seemed to have been Iruka's students at one time or another – snapped to attention in a straight line. The others shared another look but soon followed suit. Once the line was as Iruka wanted it, he gave a nod to the Hokage. "Let the test begin," she said.

There was a flurry of movement as the Genin spread out in the bare arena. Iruka stayed in his spot, his hands moving in a blur. With a strong punch to the ground, the earth seemed to rise in a great wave of water all around Iruka. As Kakashi watched, the water seemed to bubble up out of the ground – probably from an underground lake – and formed large waves around the dark-skinned Chunin and spread to cover the entire arena and just froze. Most of the Genin managed to jump up and avoid the water, but two had managed to become completely trapped.

Kakashi was impressed. Even if a ninja's talent was in water jutsu, that particular spell took a lot of chakra and an impressive amount of control. He couldn't help but notice that with the icy waves and rolls of water that had frozen, Iruka had managed to take a completely bare battlefield and create hiding places not only for himself but the Genin as well. Since Iruka's specialty was traps, Iruka had made a playing field that suited him best.

However, Iruka wasn't acting like he was in his element at all. He was just standing there in the middle of the glacial maze looking around. After a moment, the Chunin seemed to nod in satisfaction and smile just as a teenaged boy raced up to engage him in taijutsu. Iruka blocked the Genin easily, as if he blocked attacks like that every day. Being an Academy teacher, he probably did.

A second boy with blue hair tried to attack Iruka from behind, but Iruka ducked at the last minute and the Genin hit the other teenaged attacker in the teeth. While the two boys stared at each other, stunned, the little Hyuuga girl – what was her name, Hanabe? – activated her Byakugan. Slowly, she turned her head away from Iruka – who had been engaged by a well-coordinated attack between Naruto and Sakura as well as the remaining boy with white-blond hair. Hanabe's eyes seemed to settle on the loop of a frozen wave. Then she pointed a single finger at it and blew a hole in the thick shield of ice.

Three Irukas jumped out of the flying shards of ice, one of which jumped at Hanabe and started attacking her with a flurry of taijutsu moves, keeping the girl backing up on the defensive. Another clone engaged Naruto and separated him from his two companions while the third one attacked the first two attackers. Effectively, there were four Iruka's on the ice in four different battles, all of whom were backing their opponents into walls.

Suddenly, the Iruka fighting Hanabe turned to water and flew over her and froze, encasing her in ice. Kakashi had to look close, but he noticed a good-sized hole allowing the girl to breathe. He recognized that justsu as well; it was a lost art of the Hidden Mist Village. Essentially it encased a ninja in ice, but it didn't freeze them. It just rendered them immobile and blanked out any chakra they tried to use. Only an extremely powerful ninja could break out of it. Everybody else had to be released.

Iruka had once said he knew some bastardized versions of Hidden Mist jutsu. Now he had shown exactly what he was capable of.

The blue-haired boy saw the water clone freeze over Hanabe and he immediately disengaged from the Iruka clone he'd been fighting, leaving it free to freeze his battle companion. Instead he dove into a cave in the ice, which instantly blew up from an explosive tag he had triggered. When the boy landed on his face on an open stretch of ice, the ice he was lying on seemed to melt. As he sank he rolled onto his back and the water re-froze, only his face sticking out of the ice.

The battle had only been going for five minutes, and out of the eight original Genin being tested only three remained, leaving only Naruto, Sakura, and the white-blonde boy to fight Iruka.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei, has that Kaka-Baka corrupted you? You can't fight us for real?" Naruto shouted into the arena. The Iruka clone he'd been fighting suddenly melted and froze in the ice at the same time as Sakura's and the other boy's clone. Iruka emerged from behind a frozen wave, red-faced and clearly irritated.

"Naruto-kun! What have I told you time and time again about respecting your elders?" Iruka shouted as he stormed over toward Naruto. He slipped on a slippery patch of ice, but managed to catch his balance.

Unfortunately, he wasn't watching as the white-blonde boy zipped up behind him and shoved a Kunai into his back. Iruka's eyes widened as there was a pop and a block of ice appeared where he had been standing. Another Iruka – Kakashi's Sharingan was covered, so he couldn't tell if it was the real Iruka or another clone – zipped up behind the boy and pushed him into the ice, which instantly surrounded him and froze him in place.

Now it was just Sakura and Naruto against Iruka.

Iruka didn't wait for either of his past students to initiate an attack. He fled into a cave in the ice. Sakura ran after him and punched the wall of his hiding place, causing it to shatter and collapse. There was no Iruka in sight.

Naruto and Sakura glanced at each other and dodged just in time to avoid being hit with half a dozen kunai. They split up and hid on opposite sides of the arena.

Suddenly, there was a feminine screech followed quickly by the sounds of fighting under the ice. The sounds lasted for a few minutes and Naruto reappeared, searching desperately for Sakura. There were a few loud bangs and the ground shook, one corner of the arena's ice collapsing with the shock. Then all was quiet for a very tense moment while everyone, including Naruto, wondered who had won the under-ice scuffle.

Then a large cube of ice shot up from the middle of the arena and fell back to the ice, Sakura trapped inside.

Clearly Iruka had opened some sort of tunnel system under the ice that Sakura had found. Then they'd fought and Sakura had lost. Now it was just Naruto facing his old teacher.

Iruka climbed out of the rubble that Sakura had been shot out of and dusted glittery snow from his flak jacket. "Naruto, I guess you're last," Iruka said with a wry little smile. "I have no idea what I can do that would take you out."

Naruto seemed to glow with pride. "Just hold still, Sensei, and I'll make this quick," he said. Then he seemed to start to concentrate, his eyes squished closed at the effort.

Kakashi took a breath and held it. Was Naruto going to summon his modified Rasengan to knock Iruka out? The air was starting to gather in his open palm and swirl in that odd way only Naruto and Jiraiya could make it.

Iruka's hands flew through a series of seals. Wait… Kakashi recognized those seals… it was…

"Sexy no jutsu!" Iruka shouted at the top of his lungs. There was a bang and flash of smoke, and in Iruka's place stood a beautiful brunette woman, naked but for the clouds of smoke that strategically his certain parts of her exposed anatomy.

Kakashi could hear the whole stadium freeze. Naruto's eyes were open very wide, staring at Iruka's Sexy Jutsu in open-mouthed shock, his Rasengan disintegrating in his hand. Slowly, Naruto seemed to tip. Then he was down – passed out in shock.

_Damn,_ Kakashi thought, _Iruka used Naruto's special jutsu against him._ Who would have thought that it would have worked? Naruto seemed immune to hot women.

With a bang and a puff of smoke the beautiful brunette disappeared and Iruka stood fully clothed – what a shame – in her place. Iruka looked around and said, "Seems everyone has been captured, Lady Hokage. I'm going to release them." With a simple hand sign all of the ice melted and the captured Genin were set gently on the ground. Aside from being wet and a little cold they seemed to be all right. The only one who was unconscious was Naruto, and the boy had never been hit.

The stadium suddenly erupted in applause. With a signal from Iruka the Genin all lined up on the muddy ground before the Hokage. Naruto was still lying on the ground unconscious, so Iruka went over to him and shook his shoulder. The blond ball of sunshine opened his eyes and looked at Iruka. His lips moved, but Kakashi couldn't hear what was said. Iruka smiled at whatever it was and said something back, earning a smile from his past student. Then Iruka offered a hand and helped Naruto to stand, causing the audience to only clap harder.

Once Naruto trotted to his place in the line of Genin Iruka shouted a short command. The Genin stood to attention and bowed at the Kage's in the Kage box. Then they all stood tall and marched out of the arena, followed closely by Iruka.

Kakashi finally released his breath. That had been the most stressful ten minutes of his entire life.

xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx

Kakashi waited on Iruka's bed for his roommate to get home. He'd been vibrating between emotions so quickly ever since the final exam that he couldn't figure out what he felt. One moment he was afraid that Tsunade was going to punish Iruka for beating the Genin so quickly, and then he was angry Iruka had never told him about those jutsu he knew, and then he was back to fearing Tsunade was going to turn Iruka into an ANBU.

Iruka wouldn't do well as an ANBU. He was too human to survive such a cold lifestyle!

In the end, he wasn't prepared for when Iruka finally walked through the front door. The man looked beat, like he'd just had the longest day of his life.

"I'm home," came the tired voice from the doorway.

"Welcome home," Kakashi said. Iruka's head snapped up and brown eyes spotted Kakashi on the bed. Iruka froze there, bent down with one foot lifted with the sandal halfway removed.

"I saw your fight," Kakashi said. "How did the exam debrief go?" he asked.

Iruka seemed to unfreeze at the casual question and finished removing his shoes with a sigh. "Well, Tsunade was completely stunned. She'd told me in the briefing this morning that I had permission to use my family jutsu during the fight. I guess she had something with the Kage from Mist about me, but I don't have the foggiest idea what it was. She just seemed completely thrilled that I'd won, especially since the blue-haired coward was a Mist ninja. The gleam in her eye could have come from the three empty bottles of Sake on her desk, but I get the feeling that I won a bet for her."

"That's completely likely," Kakashi said with a smirk.

"Then she promoted me to Jounin," Iruka said as he approached the bed. "I guess on Monday I'm going to be assigned a team and go on my first mission as a Jounin."

"Are you okay with that?" Kakashi asked, patting the bed beside him. Iruka climbed on and settled next to Kakashi. Their arms touched but they weren't cuddling by any means.

"I don't think so," Iruka said with a sigh. "I never went for Jounin because I like my job at the academy. But, when Tsunade gets an idea in her head we all have to hop to it. Now I'm a Jounin. In a few days when the dignitaries have all cleared out, I guess I'll get a Jounin apartment.

Kakashi thought about that. Iruka would have his own place, and it wouldn't be Kakashi's. He found he didn't like the idea of Iruka sleeping so far away.

"Have you given it any thought?" he asked. "The offer's still open if you want to stay here."

Iruka seemed to think about that for a minute. Then he asked, "Would I be in my bed out here?"

"Actually, I was thinking that we move this bed into my room and donate my bed to someone who lost their apartment in the fire. I think…" wow, this was harder than he thought it would be, "… I think I want to have a real relationship with you."

Iruka turned onto his side and looked up at Kakashi, eyes sparkling and a wide smile brightening his face. "I think I'd like that, too. I think I'm ready to give us a try."

Kakashi was so happy, he couldn't bear it. He almost forgot to remove his mask as he bent down to give Iruka a long, sensual kiss. Suddenly Iruka pushed Kakashi on his back and climbed on top of him. "So, that means you'll have to tell me how to have sex with you. I've only ever done it with girls before."

Crap! Kakashi hadn't expected to be the Uke. Iruka was just full of surprises.

Oh, well… that's what made Iruka so much fun.

The End

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Author's note: So, that is the end. I like having my stories only go until a commitment is made. It gives me a "happily ever after," which I like. Thank you for reading and all the wonderful feedback I have been recieving! You guys have been a wonderful audience.

On thatnote, I had a review from someone a few weeks ago about the part in chapter 9 where Iruka figures out that Kakashi has a crush on him. The critic, a guest named Ka, said, "A bit jumpy, this. Iruka jumping to such conclusions... there is such a thing as non-romantic interest."

I agree. It is very jumpy. It is something that neither my beta nor I managed to iron out. However, I was having a little trouble figuring out how to get Kakashi and Iruka out of the pleasant rut of "friendship" they had fallen into and toward the romantic part of the story. It was an indelicate way to do it, but I also see Iruka as a very smart man who can read people. I know there is such a thing as a non-romantic interest, but I had the intention of a romance story from the get-go. Sorry to disappoint. (Always assuming Ka is catching the updates, of course lol)


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